The Strange Song of Ice and Fire
by majik7
Summary: An eccentric and a pervert. One bubbly and childish, the other perverted and optimistic. No one would think them to fit well together. Even fewer would think that she'd been his first friend since Irina left. And absolutely NO ONE would have ever thought that he would be her queen. Least of all was the fallen angel sent to see if his sacred gear was a threat.
1. Chapter 1

**OI! Read at the bottom for info about my update status. K Thx Bye**

"How….Just _how in the fuck_ did she get me to agree to this?" He whispered to himself, stalking the halls of the first floor of his school.

The main objective was simple….

In theory

Go into the room, put the little monitoring spell she taught him in a place it wouldn't be easily found. _Then_ place the other 34 spells of similar design wherever he felt like it.

If only the target of said monitoring wasn't a very observant and intelligent young woman, with a healthy and well founded sense of paranoia that her older sister might be spying on her at any and all times.

His chances of keeping out of the spotlight, _like he was supposed to be_ , were dramatically falling as the days went on.

 _ **[This is, at the very minimum, half your fault.]**_

Issei Hyoudou paused in the hallway, going over past events in his mind, and trying to come up with a way to disprove his tag-along.

'I had no idea that my off-hand comment would be taken so seriously.'

He admitted, after finding no way to deny his own involvement.

Too engrossed in the… "plot" of a certain show he was watching, his best friend/king/living proof that boobs _can_ bounce like in volleyball video games, had asked a simple question that was answered absently.

 _Is she talking to any boys?_

Only too late did the _very real_ ice in her voice register in his mind. Right after his answer of 'yea I saw her talking to some blonde dude today'.

And so began his mission of setting up the magical spy stuff, and leaving behind something meant to hopefully derail any sexual motivations the student body presidents new admirer might have.

Sera didn't like leaving things to chance.

 _ **[We are talking about the same person, right?]**_

Issei looked down to his hand, a fabric that had been white at some point not too long ago, now a faded grayish yellow poked through. Granny panties…

Sera had demanded that he set up the spells and leave behind a pair of magically aged granny panties, for the newly reincarnated pawn of Sona Sitri to find.

The guy had taken to working his ass off, trying to impress the young devil woman. Showing up early, staying later than requested, volunteering for anything he could just to get a little closer to her.

It was admirable in a way, and romantic in another. Unfortunately for one Genshirou Saji, Sona was not even slightly interested in him. Everyone apart from him could see that.

"Right… I should have known better." He sighed, voice barely a whisper.

Since it was rather late in the day, most of the lights were turned off, leaving the last remnants of sunlight as the primary source of light. Being that he was a creature that dwelled in the underworld, reincarnated or not, he could see just fine.

With a little application of some magic, and a few other things he picked up over the last few years, Issei was imperceivable to _almost_ every type of detection.

 _ **[To answer your first question, she played on your obsession with the female body.]**_

There were many ways in which Ddraig, Red Dragon Emperor, Welsh dragon of domination, was proud of his host. The one thing that always seemed to be at the core of whatever issue came about that week, was how Issei's mind seemed to be perpetually in the gutter.

Issei went rigid, his head snapping back up and stared forward, remembering his reward, should he succeed. Say what you want about Serafall Leviathan being a sis-con, or too childish for someone in her position. She was a master at reading and working people.

" _Do me this favor…" Issei could smell the strawberry from her shampoo, long raven locks free from her usual pigtails._

" _And maybe I'll dance for you." The TV was insignificant, because straddling his lap was a beautiful woman, biting her lower lip and staring at him with those innocent looking blue eyes._

Sera knew she'd already won, when her hips lowered and made to grind forward just once, and felt the pitched tent beneath her.

The relationship he had with his king was weird to say the least. Sometimes he felt like they were more of an old married couple bickering about something stupid, then a king arguing with her subordinate.

Other times it was just like when he was a kid, playing 'hero' with his friend.

And every so often, he was an advisor, or a source of comfort. Three times now, by source of comfort he meant fuck buddy. Not that he disliked that part _at all_ , he just wished there was some clarification on where things between them were going.

'Place the magic and panties, don't get caught, then LAP DANCE TIME!' Issei screamed internally, getting Ddraig to wince from the volume and content.

Down the corridor he went, unable to get the smile off of his face, thinking about the body that would be grinding up against him in no time.

The door he was looking for was only one of many signs that Kuoh Academy was run by the supernatural. Many of the office doors were made of a heavy timber, but this one was a cut above the rest.

The solid wood had small, almost invisible carvings into it. Along the edge of the trim, with the crest of every pillar engraved. There was a small application of magic to identify a supernatural being passing through, and log which devil family they were attached to if they were a devil, or alert Sona if it was something else.

Lucky for him, his king wasn't recognized as Leviathan by magic such as this, but Sitri. This would help to keep suspicions down, should anything be noticed.

But if everything was working as it should, Ghost walker, the magic he kept at least partially activated at all times, should make it seem like the door had never been breached.

Turning the handle, Issei slowly pushed the door open, only a few small creaks coming out.

Once he had enough room, Issei slid inside.

The Sitri peerage should be gone for the day, leaving the night activities to Rias and her group in the ORC. Just to keep things on the safe side, he left the door open, so he didn't have to make more noise then was needed.

It was a strange division of labor, but it worked well for the group of teens. With one half of the day free for them, they could still get their fill of being a normal teenager.

Just inside of the door, was another small hall that acted as a waiting area, since Sona basically ran the day to day stuff of the school. The education received was only minimally dictated by her, by things like uniform, club budget, disciplinary actions all went through her.

His steps were slow, wanting to avoid any places where the floor might not be well seated. Passing by the 3 seats on each side, walking over the expensive looking rug, he came into the main office.

Bookshelves lined each wall behind the large desk just in front of him, with several filing cabinets to the left wall.

"Where to put it…" Looking around the room, it was arranged in a way to keep everything organized and open. Not many little crevices to put something that would give demonic pulses every once in a while.

'Aha!' He saw the air vent in the corner and figured that would be a good spot.

This first one _had_ to be hidden, but still with a good view, since this was the only video feed. The others he could just throw wherever, since they were only to be taking pictures throughout the day.

 _ **[You do realize, that if the maid finds out about this, she'll come and undo everything.]**_

Magic was a wonderful thing. He wondered what would happen if the normal humans had free access to it. A wind spell was all that he needed, to unscrew the vent and place his hand in the spot Sera's video feed would come from.

'I'm just following orders, Grayfia can't fault me for that.' Issei responded, placing the vent back on and tightening the screws.

Walking back to the center of the room, he looked around, wondering where to put the others.

 _ **[The term she used, was "**_ **favor".** _ **There was no order or command involved.]**_

The best place he could come up with, to make sure Sera was happy, was putting them along the corner of the wall to ceiling. With this, his king would have a good view of everything in the room. Just to be thorough, he put 4 around eye level.

'Why does Saji have the hots for her anyway? Sure she's cute and all, but those bishops Sona has…. _man,_ I would do bad things to have a night with them.' Issei thought, ignoring the very real possibility that Ddraig had pointed out.

Which was, that his king had set him up to take the fall, should their actions be discovered by the silver queen of annihilation.

If experience had taught him anything, it was that the girls that kept a sweet smile on their face were hiding a dirty side as deep as the Mariana trench.

And those legs on Momo….

 _ **[Someone's coming.]**_

Issei was dragged out his threesome fantasies, shaking his head to focus on the warning.

The person was female, judging by the clack of a heeled shoe on the floor, and they were almost to the door. Her strides were confident and purposeful, even pace and timing between each echo.

That narrowed his choices down, none of which were good.

His answer came after the steps halted, a soft and assured voice carrying through the room.

"Sona, are you in here?"

Rias Gremory, little sister of the strongest devil to have ever existed, and also a frequent companion of his unconscious adventures. He found that term to be less degrading, to saying that he'd sell his soul to bang her, if he hadn't already given it to Sera.

It also prolonged his existence in the world. Sirzechs was an easy going guy, unless you said the wrong thing about his sister.

Seriously… Issei had once gotten away with accidentally admitting that he dreamt of screwing Grayfia so long that his dick had friction burn. The Crimson Satan just smiled and said he knew the feeling.

What the hell is up with that?

At least Grayfia wasn't there when that happened.

"Hello?" Rias repeated, opening the door further.

Those aquamarine eyes scanned the room from the doorway.

When she saw no one, she came inside the main room, looking left to right like she was about to do something she shouldn't.

It made him curious.

The fact that she was completely oblivious to him standing not even five feet away from her, meant that Ghost Walker was working perfectly.

When he learned about it, he was too young to realize the potential it had to cause trouble.

A blend of demonic and Greek magic, with just a splash of senjutsu and youjutsu. It diminished his presence enough for him to appear like a normal human, the greek part of it turned him invisible, but Hades' old trick created a black shimmering spot in someones vision. The Youjutsu let the viewer see what his body was blocking through an illusion, while the senjutsu dissipated his life force into the surroundings.

To anything but an expert in Senjutsu or Youjutsu, he was invisible and undetectable.

"I'm running out of time… I'm sorry Sona." Rias said, walking over the filing cabinet that Issei was close to.

Her finger trailed down the metal, looking at the label each had. Issei assumed it held a list of students, because there was nothing else he could think of, that would be alphabetical and require so much space.

A-C was the first, her finger skipped down to the second.

D-G was the second, she skipped that one too.

She stopped at the next, which was labeled as just H. It was only then, that Issei realized how many Kuoh students had H as the first letter of their family name.

The drawer was just below her knees, and the last one was practically down on the floor.

Rias slid it open, as her head dipped and hair fell over her shoulder, Issei wished he could pray.

'For the love of all things unholy, _PLEASE_ bend at the waist!'

He was standing almost directly behind her, only off to the side enough, to hardly catch a glimpse of her face.

Tucking a strand of her long crimson hair behind her ear, Rias turned to the door once more, just to make sure she was alone.

' _Bendatthewaist! Bendatthewaist! Bendatthewaist! Bendatthewaist!'_ It was like a pervy chant, only spoken so fast that if he'd actually spoken, he'd be spitting all over the place.

Issei took one step to his left, using his hands as a frame, and peering through. From right here, if he squatted just a little, it would be the perfect view.

All she needed to do now was….

'YAAAASSSSS!' He could feel Ddraig retreating into the deepest corners of his mind, wanting to stay away from anything going on right now.

Like a beautiful, slow motion montage, Rias bent down to a perfect 90 degree angle.

'Oh sweet deity of debauchery, hallowed be thy name! I _knew_ you existed! I knew it!'

Issei had never been more thankful for the short skirts and tight blouses the girls wore, than right at this moment.

As Rias looked through the files, she hummed a little tune that was unknown to him.

His eyes trying to save this image for eternity, Issei nearly losing his composure when she started to sway her hips.

That magenta skirt had ridden up, giving an almost unobstructed view of her skimpy underwear. Thin, lacy and purple, the material only really covered the holy place that men would give their lives for.

The cheeks were covered by such a sheer mesh that he could see it all.

His eyes shifted left, scanning over her form.

Rias Gremory was gorgeous. Her legs long and smooth, ass supple, abdomen and waist thin but not scrawny. Which led him to the mountain peaks that he would swear held the answers to the meaning of life.

She wore no bra judging by the way her breasts lifted and moved with time her hips changed direction. Issei wished she were a part of a club that he and his buddies peeped on. He'd offer up his left arm, just to see those puppies revealed, and that little smirk on her face that she so often showed.

"Houki….Ah! There we are. Hyoudou!"

Wait what?

Rias had apparently found what she was looking for, as her fingers picked a folder from the cabinet.

His raging libido had been killed, the moment he heard her whisper his name.

She stood, the show ending when her skirt fell back into place and walked passed Issei towards Sona's desk.

That manila folder made him nervous.

What was Rias doing, looking into him?

His reputation made it a near impossible thought, for her to be interested in any way. The perverted beast of Kuoh was _not_ someone that Rias Gremory would associate with.

She opened it slowly, the picture taken at the beginning of the term being the first thing seen.

Issei glanced up from her, and then back down to the page, seeing her fingers trace his picture.

"Are you the one?" Her voice, normally so confident, sounded desperate.

"Will you be able to help me?"

 _With what?_ He was almost dying to ask. But he needed to stay out of sight.

Clearly the saying, out of sight out of mind, wasn't happening here.

"I won't marry him. I won't accept being chained like that."

Oh.

So that's what this was about. Her arranged marriage, the one Sirzechs had ranted about the last time Issei saw him.

That decision never made sense to him. The Phenex family already had more possible heirs than any other house, including grandchildren. They weren't left with only one to carry on the name, like the Gremory family, like so many others.

And Rias' family _knew_ that she wanted to marry for love. She wanted kids, a family, she had no issue with carrying on the Gremory name.

What she had a problem with, was Riser Phenex.

Snobby, arrogant, entitled, the Phenex pretty boy prodigy. The only girls that came to him willingly were the ones with deep seated daddy issues.

Riser wasn't a bad guy per se, he just needed a _massive_ attitude adjustment.

From a purely genetic standpoint, the marriage made sense. Who in their right mind would want to mess with someone armed with the power of destruction, _and_ phenex regeneration?

Not Issei, that's for damn sure. It didn't matter how much stronger than them he was, a fight like that sounded like a horrible idea.

Watching the way her eyes clouded over, made him want to comfort her, the same way he did with Sera when those flashbacks and nightmares came.

"I won't just be some trophy wife, only there to show off to his peers, and pop out kids he'll never see."

Rias took a little time to go through the basic info in his file, and all Issei could do was watch silently.

When she left, the folder went along too.

 **-LineBreak-**

"Dude, you look like you're about to pass out."

Issei could hardly even make out the forms of his two friends standing in front of his desk. His eyes kept wanting to close, and the fight to keep them open was a losing one.

"Nah, 's gooooood."

Matsuda and Motohama very much doubted that. Their friend and co-conspirator could manage a great many feats, but they doubted that he could so much as stand right now.

The bags under his eyes were so dark it looked like make-up had been _generously_ applied.

Issei lost focus on them, his mind drifting off into realms unknown. Well, to them it was unknown.

It hadn't been _intended_ for him to stay up all night, but it had happened nonetheless. For what should he find when he got home after successfully completing the _favor_ his king had asked of him?

There was a distinct lack of lingerie, there was no ass grinding mercilessly on his lap, no large perky tits being shoved into his face, that's for sure.

Nope. Upon returning home, Issei had walked into a fucking _freezer_. His home was covered in frost, the furniture, tv, walls and ceiling. _All of it._ That was never a good sign, and a mild panic had set in.

Low and behold, when he made it upstairs not only did the frost get thicker, but he could hear the sniffles.

Lying face down on his bed, crying tears that were just as soon turning to ice, was his best friend Serafall Leviathan. She was more than that to him… But Grayfia had been very specific on what was and was not allowed for the devil kings, which was in direct opposition to what _he_ wanted.

She never told him what the problem was, nor did he ask.

The only thing he had done was scoop her up into his arms and hold her. Shivering from the byproduct of her own power, she had latched onto him like she'd never done before. Fingers that held strength far greater than any would think tore into his shirt as she clenched.

Issei wasn't sure he'd ever forget the feeling of those icy droplets falling from her cheeks and into the crook of his neck.

In fact, the only time she'd ever even gotten _close_ to the state she was last night was the time when….

"H-hello. You're Issei right? Issei Hyoudou?"

Wait…

"Wha…?"

Where in the _fuck_ was he?

He must have spaced out for quite a while, because the sun was setting, and he was _outside._

Nowhere near the school at the moment.

Turning towards the voice, a little too quickly for his current state as he almost toppled over from an onset of vertigo, Issei had to squint.

A blur that was mostly black, but there was some red and green in there too. Shorter than him, and unless his ears and general knowledge of bodies was failing him, most definitely a young woman.

His vision was swimming and his head was starting to throb in a very annoying way. Issei rubbed at his eyes, hoping that he'd be able to see more clearly.

It didn't work as intended, partially because of how the setting sun sent everything into an orange glow and was sitting just to the left of the figure before him, perfectly at eye level. The intense light was only making things worse.

He'd rather go back to sleepwalking through the day for right now, thank you very much.

A yawn came over him, so wide and drawn out that even Ddraig would be hard pressed to do better, followed by another attempt to rub his eyes into working as they should.

While that pounding between his ears continued to grate on his nerves and sensibilities, all of that was forgotten as the core of Issei's being shouted in delight at what he was finally able to see.

Even as his eyes were struggling to stay open, they roamed up from the ground.

From the brown shoes and white calf-high socks with that red stripe at the top, to the soft looking thighs. The dark green skirt was a bit longer than the one Kuoh issued. That deep red jacket though, the way it cinched at her waist her arms at her sides holding that briefcase, popped her breasts that were already larger than average for a girl her height and probable age.

Under normal circumstances, Issei would have noticed how all of this added to a conclusion that would have made him cautious.

Her facial features were soft and inviting, nervous smile and violet eyes endearing his sleep-deprived mind to her. A breeze kicked up then, and her waist length raven hair tussled, bangs obscuring an eye for a fraction of a second before moving back to its place.

"Can't be from Kuoh. I would've noticed a girl that beautiful before."

Issei was not fully himself at the moment. His brain and body were having trouble communicating, so the fact that he'd said that aloud went unnoticed.

The surprise that came over her was missed, and so was the blush followed shortly after. He was losing the fight to stay awake, not fully aware of what was going on around him anymore.

Stepping forward slowly, wobbling with each one, Issei came closer to the girl trying to get his attention. Not even his primal tendencies and desires could keep him focused right now, and he'd fallen into a half-asleep state, rendering the girl as nothing more than a figment of his unconscious.

A pleasant one to look at, but still just his brain piecing together aspects of a woman that he found attractive and throwing it together.

"Wou-…. Go…. Me?" She was saying something, and that vertigo was coming back with a vengeance. The clouds looked like they were spinning, the sun a streak of light in his vision rather than its usual circular shape.

"Yea." The words spilled from his lips just the same as he always did when he was pretending to be following along with a conversation.

And then the world tipped rather than spun, a rushing sound of air coming to his ears.

A happy cheer followed behind it, which turned into a yelp right as his face collided with something… _squishy_. Warm too.

'Hmmmm… squishy warm pillow.' The scent of lilac filled his nose. His pillow was never this comfortable before. It reminded Issei of something else, but that _something_ was lost in the pool of sludge that was his mind at the moment.

"Dating for not even a minute and you're already sticking your face in my tits. No wonder those girls hate you." The voice was deeper, more seductive rather than sweet.

If the rhythmic pattern of his breathing was any indication, Issei was no longer awake, having fallen completely into the realm of dreams seconds after his face was planted in the breasts of a girl that had called out to him on the bridge.

 **-LineBreak-**

After _years_ of trying to get his attention, Raynare had finally been given that moment alone with him. Her hands had been twitching, just waiting for a hint that he finally wanted her too, and she'd shred her clothes to pieces and position herself on his desk.

Some might call her a whore, slut, tramp or whatever names that came to mind, but she wouldn't have cared in the slightest.

Then those words spilled out of his mouth, and her dreams of having Azazel balls deep into her had been promptly and viciously murdered. It had been a long shot in the first place, a fact that had been told to her many, _many_ times.

Granted, this was at least half her own fault.

Azazel had never been one to advocate for war, and every skirmish the fallen had with the other two sides was met by him not being seen by anyone but the other leaders for days at a time.

Her blind search for his recognition had led her there, and the deaths that followed were on her hands. She should have just taken that security job when it had been offered to her. Instead, Raynare had somehow got it in her head that Azazel would be impressed and happy with her, if she were to head off and take out one of the up and coming peerages the fallen had heard of.

A bishop, 3 pawns and their king. All young, the eldest of which was the bishop who was 20. Murdered in broad daylight for all the factions to see, lacking the usual stealth that her missions were always completed with.

By some blessing, they hadn't seen her face, only knew that it was a fallen that had done the deed.

" _I don't know what made you do it. But you certainly have my attention now."_

The smirk that was always present hadn't left, so she'd taken that as a good sign. But then she saw his eyes.

Anger.

Hardly restrained rage being directed right towards _her_ , and the only reason she still had her head was probably because Azazel didn't want to risk their numbers any more than was absolutely necessary. So, while _yes,_ she had killed a devil and peerage, they hadn't been pillar members.

It was one of those upstart extra families that had moved up in status over the last century.

That was the only reason that Azazel hadn't handed her over to the devils or killed her himself. Through some sort of political gymnastics, her leader had managed to get the devil kings to back off and let him handle things.

" _You have no idea how close you were to being strung up in front of a crowd in Lilith and executed publicly."_

Thus began the most boring decade of her life. Observing potential sacred gear users. After confirming that they actually held one, and they were dangerous, she was to report up the chain and wait for orders to eliminate them. If they weren't, either leave them be or recruit them, it depended on their mental state and situation.

Only 2 so far had needed to be killed.

10 years, dozens of missions, and no way of furthering her potential relationship with Azazel. In fact, he had made it abundantly clear that he didn't trust her and would rather keep his distance. Looking back on things, she couldn't find any way to blame him for that.

The latest of these missions came with a very clear subtext. _Stay off the devil's radar._ Otherwise, they could deal with her as they pleased. Something had happened within the last few months that had made the fallen and the church a little wary.

A devil of unknown status had managed to infiltrate a church near the fucking _Vatican_ and get away with his body intact. Though that was only because of the sweet little thing that had healed him up. Whatever the end game for that little ploy was, it couldn't be good.

If she were being perfectly honest, it stunk to high hell of deeper motive. Maybe not… but what devil in their right mind would want to get so close to Heaven's seat of power in the human world? _Vasco Strada_ was just a call away, and that man was the very definition of righteous human strength.

Now here she was, in a suburb in Japan scouting out a _potential_ high-class sacred gear. If Azazel was right, it might even be a longinus. She couldn't fuck this one up. This needed to be done _right_ , by the book as it were. If any of these missions had to be handled with care, it was this one.

All she had been given was the name, the school he attended, and the town.

Issei Hyoudou, 2nd year student of Kuoh Academy in Kuoh Japan. Where things got messy was learning that the place was the territory of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, both of which were the younger siblings to a Devil King.

So she had 2 schools of thought on how this particular mission should go. The first was that she should just let the kid go should he prove to be a threat to the devils in the area. It would destabilize things enough to the point where the fallen could potentially move on some of the other sacred gear users that moved between devil and fallen territory.

That one was more in line with how she'd though back when this entire mess started, so was pushed to the last in line.

The other, was to come in, do her job quietly and discretely and get the fuck out. Sirzechs Lucifer was the strongest devil to have ever existed, rumored to be _ten times_ stronger than the original. Serafall Leviathan was nothing to scoff at either, wielding ice magic that could freeze entire cities in the blink of an eye.

From early on he was easily picked out from the crowd. Brown hair, light brown eyes that looked gold in the right lighting, average height. His build was a little harder to determine because his clothes were usually just baggy enough to hide it. She wrote that off as a comfort thing, either he didn't like the clothes sticking to his skin, or he was image conscious.

Even thinking about that last part made her laugh. The young man she'd been sent here to spy on didn't seem to give a damn about what others thought. He openly admitted to being a pervert, and associated with the two others that were among his rank almost exclusively.

But there was something about him, even from afar, that caught her attention. That dopey smile that led one to believe that he wasn't particularly smart or skilled in any field, that easy stance that seemed lazy.

It reminded her of some of the other fallen that were tasked to spy in close quarters.

It was fake as hell, and yet so perfectly crafted that no one picked up on it.

The only reason _she_ did, was because she happened to be using a magic that extended her vision from a long distance and watched him walking towards his apartment building. That look had vanished.

Where once there had been a teenage boy with a devil may care attitude as long as he saw some thighs, tits or ass, she then saw a hunter. _Something_ was off about him, but she couldn't tell what it might be.

If he had already activated his sacred gear and was aware of the supernatural, then he didn't seem to have a problem with devils, because he stared at them just as much as the human girls. What human that had been given one of God's mystical gifts, wouldn't use it if given the chance?

And as far as she could tell, he hadn't been using it.

As the days ticked by, she caught glimpses of that prowling expression. They were quickly hidden, but she _knew_ they were there. She could sense nothing out of the ordinary from him, which only made her observation harder.

He spent his time after school in his apartment, a 3rd floor unit in a decent looking building. It didn't appear as though his parents were in the picture, so they had either gotten him the place while they lived elsewhere or weren't in his life in one way or another. She hadn't found that out yet.

With his reputation at school, she was surprised to see that there weren't any visible posters of naked or near naked women, though his intake of porn on the internet was a bit excessive in her opinion.

But then again, if he _did_ have a sacred gear, they were known to affect the user in various ways depending on which one it might be.

When she saw the way the Redheaded devil was eyeing him through the window, Raynare knew that she had to take a closer look.

It seemed simple enough. He had the libido of a rabbit, and very few friends. None of which were female, she might add. The girls at Kuoh seemed to despise the very existence of the three boys that peeked on whatever girls they could.

She needed to get close to try and get a better feel for what sacred gear he might have, and if it had been activated at least once. The interaction with her would also help to figure out what state he was in mentally.

The best course of action, Raynare figured, was to approach him and ask him out. She would be able to get close, playing the part of a blushing school girl, and have an excuse to get to know him a bit.

To say it hadn't gone to plan was an understatement. Azazel had contacted her the night before and asked for an update, only to hear that she had nothing solid to go on.

Then she saw Issei walking to school, looking like he was still asleep.

It hadn't gotten better throughout the day, but she was out of time. It had to be now.

So she adjusted her appearance to look about his age, perhaps a bit younger cause she figured he'd be less inclined to question an older girl approaching someone with his reputation.

Yuuma Amano was the name she'd chosen to go with, and she felt it was appropriate since they had met up as the sun was setting. He looked dead on his feet, eyes struggling to stay open, stance uneasy, like he could just collapse at any moment.

Raynare felt no shame in admitting that she'd been a _little_ caught off guard by his comment on her being beautiful, and knowing that he'd never seen her before, only because she could tell that he hadn't meant to say it.

The sleeping mind was more vulnerable, and Issei was practically asleep standing up. Anything he said was likely to be as true as could be. The head on his shoulders was clearly doing none of the thinking as his eyes roamed over her body, but again it didn't feel like she was just being ogled.

It felt like her entire existence was being measured. There no power radiating off of him, so that made no sense.

"Would…Would you go out with me?" She preferred to play the confident woman, that being closer to her true self, but this was necessary. No high school girl would be comfortable with being so upfront.

When he said yes, it was barely audible to her ears, but still she felt a measure of relief. Step 1 completed. At least she could tell Azazel _something._

And _then_ Issei had passed out on his feet, falling into her and bringing her down to the ground with him.

'A pervert indeed.' She thought, looking down to see his face buried in between her breasts.

"Dating for not even a minute and you're already sticking your face in my tits. No wonder those girls hate you." Her true voice had slipped out by accident from the surprise in how things changed so quickly.

She held her breath, waiting for some sort of sign from him.

Nothing, he was out cold.

Before she could even consciously think about what she was doing, her fingers had started threading through his hair. She'd imagined doing something like this a million times, but only with a handful of people. She _had_ only done this with a few less than that.

He was warm, warm enough that it was noticeable even through both sets of their clothes almost immediately.

With how tired he was, perhaps he was getting sick. The few times she'd witnessed a fallen sick, their own power had dropped dramatically too, though not even the weakest of them would drop to feeling like they weren't even there.

Plus, humans weren't usually affected like…

Her hand stopped.

Raynare closed her eyes and focused on whatever she might be able to feel from Issei through her supernatural senses.

Nothing. Again.

'That's not right.'

Even human children had a little sign of magic in them, for him to not give off _any_ was… problematic.

 _Especially_ if he had a sacred gear.

'Okay. Don't panic. If he's already developed enough magical ability to suppress himself than that might make him easier to convince. No signs of him being a threat to anyone so far.'

But the fact remained… How had no one heard of him yet if he was talented enough to do that?

 **END!**

 **Another thing I've had sitting around for months, since Feb I think.**

 **I'm almost done with Isolated Joker, but once that's done I don't really know when any other updates will come.**

 **I'm in the process of buying a house, and things are kinda crazy right now. I will do what I can, when I can do it.**

 **Thanks to Revan's Stories for reading this through.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hmmmmmm…."

Issei stared down at his bed, one arm across his torso and propping up the other that was under his chin.

The last 24 hours were mostly a blur, only having flashes of moments throughout the school day. Issei could count the times he'd been that tired on one hand, and they were all brought about from being pushed into a conflict unexpectedly.

That one time he went camping and got attacked by a rabid werewolf. The damn thing was bouncing around the trees so quickly it made his head spin.

Or walking into the mall, which was a bad idea to begin with, looking for a birthday present for Sera only to find a group of radical magicians with no affiliations holding the people in that candle store hostage. That had been a particularly late night from having to cover the supernatural tracks through an entire town and the local news networks.

And then there was that group of strays that had banded together, scattering out over a decent chunk of the Astaroth territory. It would have been easier to deal with, if that one chick hadn't gotten a lucky blow to his knee. Issei honestly thought that magic wouldn't be able to put it back to 100%. He had underestimated Sera's protective nature in that regard. It wasn't _only_ skewed towards Sona.

But for him to have complete blanks in his memory was out of the ordinary. Sure, having to manually regulate your body temperature all night was tedious, but he hadn't really considered how exhausting it would be.

 _It was worth it._

Now… If only he could remember just how the scene before him had come to be.

That being the dark haired bombshell sleeping peacefully in his bed, wearing what could _almost_ be considered a leather bikini.

Almost, because it just barely covered anything that would have been censored for television.

For the life of him, Issei couldn't remember encountering a woman above high school age yesterday.

 _ **[Even after all this time, your ignorance still finds ways to surprise me.]**_

 _And a good morning to you too Ddraig._

Issei was pretty surprised that the red dragon was awake, he wasn't much of a morning person. In fact, the last time Issei woke him up before the sun had peaked in the sky, he had nightmares of porn mags getting burned by the hundreds.

Ddraig could be incredibly cruel when he wanted.

 _ **[Do you have any idea how lucky you are to still be alive? That the fallen didn't know you were a devil and use her light weapons on you?]**_

 _To be honest, the wings kinda got ignored…_

Which was _probably_ a bad thing. The minute he saw them, his mind should have gone into the realm of something like "What the fuck is a fallen doing here? KILL IT!" rather than "Holy sweet mother of cleavage! Before me lies the gate to paradise, hidden by thin strips of leather!"

Or something to that effect.

 _ **[And you wonder how the Leviathan so easily gets you to do things…]**_ Ddraig sounded well and truly convinced that there was no changing Issei.

Said young man pointedly ignored the comment, in favor of trying to connect the dots of… well, anything from yesterday afternoon, and waking up with a woman sprouting black feathered wings that had cocooned him ever so blissfully.

 _It's totally unfair that they have what is quite possibly the most comfortable blanket I've ever felt as part of their anatomy. It's warm, cozy, blocks out the light so you can sleep in, just the right amount of weight to not feel smothering… Don't you dare tell Sera any of this._

 _ **[Are you going to get to the part where you ask for an account of what happened any time soon?]**_

 _Oh yea… Could you fill me in? It's pretty much a big blank. I know I went to school, was tired as fuck all day, and then… nothing._

It was really starting to bug him. Issei might not be a virgin, but that didn't mean he didn't want to have the memories of hooking up with this hottie, it that's what happened. He would completely disregard the whole, natural born enemies thing.

 _ **[She approached you on the bridge. You made some stupid comments that were meant to remain thoughts. She asked you to be her boyfriend, and you agreed before passing out and landing in her bosom.]**_

Oh. Well then, his death was going to be a cold and icy one.

Wait…

 _How did she know where I live?_

 _ **[Best guess is that she's been keeping an eye on you. If memory serves, the fallen have two ways of handling sacred gear users. Recruit or kill.]**_

Ah fuck. This meant he'd have to tell Sera. And then he would die. Cold, icy _and_ painful.

His king/friend/fuck buddy or whatever they were had a violent protective streak ten of miles, wide when it came to her sister. If something similar had happened with the student council president, war would be inevitable. For other people she cared for, it was about half as bad.

If this had _just_ been him reporting a fallen angel monitoring him, said fallen would be the one to feel the Leviathans wrath. Unfortunately for him, he'd agreed to date this woman…supposedly. That automatically made him the guilty party because he wasn't about to turn the blame towards Sera. Yes, she was the reason that he was so fucking tired, but what good would come of that? She was already on edge from _something_. He didn't need to make it worse.

 _It's been a pleasure working together buddy. Maybe your next host will unlock you in time for the funeral. Be sure to give a good eulogy._

 _ **[Don't be so dramatic.]**_ Issei could practically feel Ddraig rolling his eyes, and it was weird considering the dragon didn't have an actual body.

 _ **[The fact that you are alive likely means that she doesn't know you're a devil. You should have a few days to sort things out.]**_

Issei's head hung low, already knowing that things were going to be pinned on him no matter what he came up with, whether it be lies or actual results.

 _I suppose the only good thing about this situation is the door to the underworld being away from any windows, and inaccessible to non-devils._

Which meant that she wouldn't be able to just open it and see into the manor he stayed in occasionally. If the fallen broke it down, all she'd see was a closet with some random things he threw in there for appearances sake. A few board games, a few coats and hoodies, that sort of thing.

Ajuka wasn't a physically imposing character, but _damn_ was his mind the stuff of legend. He took their artificial dimension knowledge and crafted the doorknob that kept him from being found out, while still being able to see Sera and the others in a private setting.

Once a persons hand was on it, the device could be activated if you were a devil. The process of turning the handle activated the magic, and once open you would find yourself at the predetermined and programmed location.

 _Let's take it from the top._

Pulling himself together, Issei glanced at the fallen woman once more. He needed a game plan.

 _ **[How about you take control of ghost walker first? Keeping it active all night has been…arduous.]**_

Hurrying to comply, Issei felt a little guilty about the state he'd been in. Ddraig was famous for multiple reasons, but magical aptitude wasn't one of them. It was little more than a thought for the control to transfer thanks to how long he'd been using this little trick.

 _Thanks partner. I know this stuff isn't your forte._

 _ **[Yes, well, I had no need for such things. There was no reason for me to remain in the shadows, so to speak.]**_

Issei imagined that was a nice feeling, never having to worry if someone would pick out what species you were. The whole, big fucking red dragon part, kinda gave away who he was.

 _Back to the here and now. She_ probably _doesn't know I'm a devil. I can play the clueless normie, or the supernaturally aware twice critical user. Thoughts?_

 _ **[That all depends on the purpose of her spying on you. Not that she poses a threat to you, seeing that you're actually conscious now. It is safe to assume you would like to continue this façade of being a normal human?]**_

Not particularly. Issei wasn't a big fan of lying, and hiding the truth wasn't much better.

 _Orders are orders. We gotta lay low until Sera says otherwise._

It was in that moment, Issei heard some shuffling.

Her wings shifted, stretching out from their curled position that Issei had been lying in when he awoke. At their full length, the very tips were pretty close to touching the wall on either side of his bed. Her face scrunched in a way that had Issei unable to turn away, her arms stretching above her head as her back arched.

" _mmmmMMM"_

Issei stared, wholly transfixed, the only movements he made were those cause by him breathing.

 _ **[Of course..]**_ Ddraig sighed, retreating to his well deserved nap. Also leaving Issei to figure the situation out on his own. It had all worked out before, except for one time, so the odds were in his favor.

 **-LineBreak-**

"Hehehehehehe."

There was no helping the giggles. She shouldn't be this happy about what happened, but again she couldn't help it.

In fact, Serafall should still be furious to the point of crying.

Just like the other night.

Sirzechs, Ajuka, Falbium, and _especially_ Grayfia, they had all been so unfair. They wouldn't even listen to her entire request!

Serafall was fully aware of the position her peerage had undertaken. To be the anonymous eyes and ears around the world that she and Behemoth couldn't. There was no disputing the benefits that had come from that.

Even Issei understood, though his role wasn't as flexible due to his age. This wasn't to say that he was bad at the tasks handed to him, contrary to what Grayfia might say or think.

She _did_ feel guilty about how the night had turned out for two reasons. The first was that her magic had started to affect the room, cooling it to a degree that was just plain dangerous for any sort of life. Issei was forced to warm himself throughout the whole time he'd been comforting her in that moment of unreasonable emotional instability.

The other reason was because she had fully intended on keeping her word and then some. The first time she'd given him a lapdance, it was just a whim. She likes dancing, she likes Issei, and she most definitely likes the way he looked at her.

The theatrics of it all just made the sex more… _explosive_.

If someone had asked her before experiencing it, Sera would have never thought that _giving_ the lapdance would have her just as wound up as the one receiving it. But that's exactly what happened.

It was the looks he gave her, those near copper eyes drinking her in like a man stranded in the desert would drink upon finding an oasis.

It was the way he reacted when she touched him softly, suggestively. A light stroke on the arm made him dig his fingers into the chair viciously, a gentle glide up the thigh made his breath hitch.

Sera thought his lust had been at its peak already, but that was nothing compared to when her bra had come off. She would swear till she was blue in the face that it had turned _palpable_ the moment her lacy garment hit the floor, not that she really had the desire to share the details of those nights with anyone.

Back to the important stuff.

The way the others dismissed her request was insulting.

If they had listened, it would have been obvious that she wasn't trying to go back on unwritten rule/agreement. But they hadn't, the moment the words _I would like for Issei to-_ and then they cut her off. Or rather, Ajuka had, assuming that he knew the rest of what she was about to say.

She had considered telling them about the relationship with Issei a few times. They were her friends, and she wanted to be able to share things with them. Something in her gut had said to keep it a secret, and her gut had proven her right once again.

" _If Issei's position and sacred gear were to be found out, it would open us to scrutiny that could have far reaching consequences. He_ _ **must**_ _remain hidden so that_ _ **she**_ _can remain safe."_

Sera had been about to say that she understood that, but she wasn't suggesting to openly admit that her queen was the Red Dragon Emperor and safeguarding an original Levithan descendent, and then Falbium spoke.

" _Katerea alone would be hard enough to guard against efficiently, to say nothing of Rizevim or the rest. Issei just isn't situationally aware enough to guard her along with Rias and Sona, and moving him would take too much time and resources to do discreetly."_

The fact that Falbium was awake surprised her, the length at which he'd spoken even more so. They weren't wrong, but they were speaking as though she were incompetent.

" _The families would scream nepotism Sera. I'm sorry, truly, but we can't have our sisters aware of who he is. They would push him out and then we'd be flying blind should anyone try to target us again."_

Sirzechs spoke gently, and she suspected that he was aware of at least _some_ feelings having developed between her and Issei. While the Crimson Satan got along well with him, Sirzechs had to be careful about how close they became. All because of the last speaker.

 _Grayfia._

" _Your queen is young, rash, naive, arrogant, and how his tendencies haven't exposed him already is a miracle."_

That alone had Sera's heart pounding, partly in rage over this whole misunderstanding, and partly because it hurt to see her friends demean the person she loved.

She'd never said the words to him yet, but was there really a need to? It had been obvious for a while that Issei felt the same.

What Grayfia said next led to the room being covered in frost, her chair breaking from how quickly it was cooled, and everyone looked at Serafall as though it was _her_ saying unbelievably insulting things.

" _His desire for a harem_ _ **will**_ _lead to trouble,whether through pursuing someone with an agenda to undermine the current leadership, or from an enemy altogether. This is why he was informed of the futility in trying to court you. The monitoring placed in and around his home only confirms that he must be kept at a certain distance."_

Her reaction was probably not the best, but in light of this new information she wouldn't take it back.

As Sera stood, the chair leg broke causing it to fall sideways. Her eyes mirrored the absolute cold that was swiftly taking over the room, the same blue of everlasting ice.

" _I thought that out of everyone, Sirzechs,_ _ **Grayfia**_ _, that you two would at least listen. Not only did you prove me wrong there, you even call_ _ **my judgement**_ _into question? No. This ends_ _ **now**_ _."_

They said nothing, and while the devil kings kept themselves composed Sera could tell they were surprised about her reaction. Grayfia didn't even bat an eye, feeling no remorse for what she'd said or had done. That would change.

" _My peerage will no longer accept orders or requests from anyone but myself. If you have need of them, it will go through me first and I will decide from there. Issei Hyoudou, Ultimate-class devil and_ _ **the**_ _**strongest queen**_ _, will be given the rest of what he is owed per our mandates. You should be lucky that both he and I would never take out a grievance on anyone uninvolved. Otherwise he would be named the holder of Kuoh and you would have to explain to Rias why that is."_

With that off her chest, Serafall moved to leave. Her steps echoed in the silent room as that declaration still sunk in. Once her hand was on the knob, Sera decided to make one last thing clear.

" _Since you all seem to doubt him so much, I don't think it wise to have Issei interfere with a certain engagement. She'll have to find her own way out."_

She saw Sirzechs eye flash the same crimson as his hair, a sign that she'd made it clear just how far over the line they had gone. Grayfia finally graced them all with _some_ sort of emotion. The queen of annihilation faltered in place, whether from shock or the spreading ice on the floor she wasn't sure. But the flat footed look on her face was satisfying.

When she transported herself to Issei's apartment, that anger bled away quickly and was replaced with the hurt of having her closest friends betray her like this.

It started small, with a sniffle and a sting in her eyes.

She took the longest strides her short stature allowed and made her way to his room. The second she flopped down onto the bed the sobbing started.

An indeterminate length of time later, she heard a door click and footsteps coming closer, but she couldn't stop crying.

Then he was there, throwing his bag to the side scooping her into his arms.

She clung to the jacket of his uniform, her knuckles crusted over with ice. One hand ran through her hair while the other rubbed soothing circles on her back.

Issei never asked what the problem was, it didn't matter until that agonizing feeling was gone. By the time that happened, she had simply fallen asleep in his lap, wrapped by arms heated with an internal fire that burned _everything._

He whispered to her, saying everything would be okay, he would make sure everything would be okay.

That was all she remembered until she woke up just before dawn. Issei had fallen asleep sitting up, arms still tight around her.

Sera glanced around the room, paying careful attention so that she could destroy whatever magic was allowing them to spy on her queen.

Once they were found, all it took was a twitch of a finger and all 6 were destroyed.

 _She_ had hardly been able to detect them, which meant that Ajuka must have been the one to design the magic.

Carefully removing herself from his grip, Sera couldn't but smile and feel her heart swelling. It was just like him to comfort her no matter how uncomfortable he might be.

Since his home was now free of prying eyes and ears, Sera decided to head to the manor where all of their nights together had happened.

With a twirl of her staff and a flash of blue she was gone from the human world, and found herself in a dark room with the only light being very dim bulbs along the back side of the room.

It was sparingly decorated, just to have _something_ in here other than the bed and medical equipment and keep it from looking too cold. A few generic pictures of landscapes, a fake tree in the corner just barely within the light.

The beeping was rhythmic and consistent as Sera walked up, looking onto the face of the one lying there.

Purple hair, long shiny and soft to the touch. The illness afflicting this girl was strange, and no one had been able to make much progress with it. The only thing that was really known was that the victim went into a coma. Most died after a number of years, but there had been a number of cases where the individual kept living. Misla Bael for one example.

Her thoughts drifted to the one responsible for checking on her, guarding her from enemy threats. Issei.

The reasoning was simple. He had the most available free time, and his physiology gave him the desire to do it. More so than he already would.

Nyried Kyrie.

A sacred gear that essentially turned someone into the strongest of dragon tamers, while also being able to strengthen them and manipulate the sea to an unknown degree.

The young woman who possessed it also happened to be a Leviathan descendant, giving her a higher level of demonic power and an affinity to water. With this being her queens wing of the manor, he was tied to the wards, and so would be made aware of any break-ins first and foremost.

It would be much easier for him to just hightail it out of school and teleport here.

Seeing that the girl was doing the same as before, Sera decided that it would be best to go and get some work done.

Which brings us to now, with a stupid smile on her face as she spun around the chair of her private office.

 _-Let me know who upset you yesterday so I can drag him into the alley and give'em the business okay?-_

It was dumb little things like the message Issei had sent her yesterday that solidified her thoughts on what role in her life she wanted him to have.

The short answer - all of them.

He was her best friend, her servant and queen, confidant. He kept her grounded to reality when she was up in the clouds. Pulled her up when she fell into a hole. Issei was everything she could ever think she wanted or needed and then some.

So what if he liked to peep on girls with his friends? She knew without a shadow of a doubt that those instances were more for appearances sake now. A sudden shift in personality like that would grab attention. Plus he had never touched a single one of them, otherwise Sona would have had him expelled in a moments notice, and he kept the other two from doing it also.

Sure, he'd never deny wanting to see a new pair of nice breasts. But honestly neither would she.

What? She's a pure-blooded devil, sinful things are kinda their entire deal. And girl on girl? Sinful _and_ hot.

The creme de la creme though… _Incestuous_ girl on girl.

Sera was part of a small group among the devil community that differentiated levels of incest between man and woman, to same sex. Man and woman incest = bad. Same sex incest? _Oh yes..._

It doesn't beat the feeling of having that _thick, hot, long, throbbing-_

Sera had to pull herself out of that daydream before it even got going.

If she got enough work done, _then_ she could go and get herself stuffed like a thanksgiving day turkey.

Within the next 48 hours, her queen was going to get so very, _very_ laid.

Luckily with him, it was never just a one time per night thing. Dragons were a little scary with how quickly they recovered.

 **-LineBreak-**

Raynare was torn.

She'd let the moment get to her, the peaceful feeling of having someone wrapped in her arms and be entirely at ease. Then she fell asleep along with him, which in hindsight was a bad idea.

She should have left after getting him home.

 _But_ _ **damn**_ _if that wasn't the best sleep I've gotten in a long time!_

It was just as good as her imagination had made it out to be.

The problem was twofold.

First, she had been in the bed of someone that she had just made first contact with. If sex had been a part of the equation then it wouldn't have been _quite_ as weird, but that hadn't happened. This wasn't an awkward morning after a one night stand.

And second, she was in her true form, if the feeling of stretching wings was anything to go by. That wasn't good. She'd approached him looking to be near his age and _without_ wings…

 _Shit._

She had noticed him standing a few feet away from the bed, and a small part of her wanted him to come back so they could fall into that deep comfortable slumber again.

Slowly, she looked up, prepared to see any sort of surprised or horrified look on his face.

His eyes were towards her, and _maybe_ open a slight bit more than normal, but there wasn't an expression she'd anticipated.

 _Lust_

Plain as day, written all across his face. Plus his eyes were glued to her chest. Whether the reaction she'd seen just a bit lower than his waist(and a surprising length she had to admit) was from morning wood or from looking at her, she couldn't tell.

"Um…Good morning?"

Only for a moment did his eyes move up to hers. After that, she didn't know what to make of his actions.

Issei peered around the room as though he was waiting for something to jump out at him from some hidden place.

But this was _his_ room.

Glancing around with a fevered pace, Raynare just sat there and tried to put 2 and 2 together, trying to figure out just what in the fuck he was doing.

He went as far as to peek behind the swimsuit posters on his wall before he seemed to calm down and face her again.

"What are you…?" She trailed off, not sure an answer to that was something she wanted.

He was staring at her intently, like he was unravelling some great mystery about who she was, why she was here, and what she intended to do.

Under that strangely intense scrutiny, the same one from the other day, Raynare briefly forgot that he was her observation target.

"Are you part succubus or something?"

Her whirling mind came to a screeching halt at that absurd question. Pride for her species came quickly bubbling to the surface.

"No, I'm a full-fledged fallen-"

"Bullshit."

Thankfully, her brain started cooperating again, and realized that she had his attention. Not only that, but he didn't seem at all confused or frightened by her apparent non-human status.

This was one check in the list of questions she had about him. Which also nearly confirmed her suspicion that he'd already activated his sacred gear, whatever it was.

' _Now that I think about it, should I be worried about being this close to him?'_

If Azazel was right, then it was a higher tier. Add that to the fact that this unassuming human was able to completely suppress himself, it spoke of technique and power.

"Nothing but a succubus could look and sound that sexy just by waking up."

It was stupid, unfair, completely unexplainable, but Raynare had been caught unprepared by his comments twice now. She was used to being hit on, lusted after, even stalked a time or two. But these completely serious and unintentional compliments were probably just as effective as any pick-up line she'd ever heard.

Then his eyes roamed over her body again, and she was reminded how this guy had remained single.

' _Right, mega-perv. I should be okay.'_

If it came down to a hasty retreat, she could just flash some tit and get the hell out.

Raynare took a calming breath, that traitorous heat in her cheeks being stubborn and not wanting to fade quickly enough.

"I'm not a succubus, and if I was don't you think I'd be gone by now? They don't stick around after getting theirs. I'm a-"

"Cosplay enthusiast?"

"What?"

Why would he think she was into dressing up as fictional characters?

"Black leather bikini that hardly covers anything other than the important bits, most definitely from a male oriented series. I'm not familiar with the outfit, but I know a costume when I see one. I know a few people that wear theirs almost constantly."

In a weird way, having a completely off the wall conversation like this was nice. She wasn't reporting to a superior, having to be careful about maintaining that line of respect. This had nothing to do with him being the one she was spying on.

"It's not a costume."

"Ah! My bad. Your uniform then."

"It's just my clothes! I like it because it makes me feel sexy!"

Seriously, who did this guy hang out with? And what kind of cosplay were these people wearing?

The turn in his expression was weird. From that easy going look she'd seen so frequently from a distance, now there was a look of compassionate pity. She didn't like it. Having a human pity her wasn't something she needed or wanted.

As the annoyance she felt started to color her vision red, Issei let out a breath and shook his head.

"You need to hang out with some better people then."

' _Oh hell no! He is_ _ **not**_ _about to start ragging on fallen angels!'_

Raynare was fully prepared to take this to a physical altercation in that instance.

"If you wear that because you honestly liked it and there was no other reason, that's fine. Everyone has their own thing they're into. I _really_ doubt that's the case though. My guess is that you were infatuated with someone. Someone who doesn't commit. They have a seemingly endless list of flings and one night stands. I'd put money on it, that you started wearing things like that to get his or her attention."

Who the fuck was this insightful, psychoanalytic person?

"This person you want or wanted, they're of a higher position. And your peers said showing more skin was the answer."

Where did he get off on trying to pick apart her life after only knowing her for a few hours at best.

"The sad part is that it didn't work."

What happened to the pervert who peeped on his female classmates at any given opportunity?

"If I'd been your friend? I would have told you to ignore those people. You're gorgeous. You are beautiful to the point that it's just down right unfair for most other women. I would have told you to go classy. Maybe grab a slimming dress a shade of purple just darker than your eyes."

Raynare turned her head away, unable and unwilling to say anything against what he was saying. And that kinda pissed her off, because he was right.

"Not some skimpy thing that hardly covers your ass, divine as it may be."

The roll of her eyes couldn't be stopped. Though it did have the effect of easing some tension with the lighthearted way he said it.

"An ankle length one with a slit on the side, gives you a chance to show some leg if you want. Pull your hair back into a ponytail. Find an excuse to be around the person you're after. Smile, have a conversation with no immediate goal in mind."

She wanted to leave now.

Where was this advice a decade ago? Where was _he_ a decade ago… Oh right. He was a little kid.

 _Ugh… relationship advice from a guy that's hated by every girl in his school. Fucking kill me._

But still, it confused her on _how_ he could be so awful with girls around him, and then be able to say things like this to her.

"Bah! What do I know? I'm just some perv that wants to stare at tits all day." Issei waved off his comments as though he delusional and diving into a subject he knew nothing about.

She rose a brow when he turned away from her, catching the fall in his expression just before he'd turned around enough.

" _Yea. What do I know…"_

He whispered quietly enough that it would have been missed by a human. But a human she was not.

"Fuck!" His sudden yell startled her a little, getting a little jump as a reaction.

Issei ran over to the closet, grabbing a few hangars, then heading over to the dresser in his room and grabbing some socks and underwear.

"I never set my alarm. The President will kill me if I'm late again!"

The quick change and flurry of motion ruined the moment, not that she particularly minded.

' _Well no shit you didn't set an alarm. I brought you back here after you passed out.'_

There wasn't another word traded between the two, as Issei darted around while slinging clothes on. From one end of the apartment to the other he ran, in search of his coat, his bag, his shoes.

Once he had them all Issei came to a skidding halt at the door, throwing it open and running out, leaving the fallen angel alone in his home.

' _He never even asked for my name…'_

This entire interaction had been strange and unorthodox, but Raynare wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She was just given silent permission to snoop around _and_ catch a little more sleep in a nice bed.

 _'_ _Actually… Now that I think about it, this bed is crazy comfy. Way too expensive for a high school student to afford unless he's got rich parents that shipped him off.'_

As she laid back down and pulled the covers back up, Raynare never considered any other reasons that Issei may have been in the possession of something that seemed outside his perceived economic status.

The only thing on her mind at the moment, was taking a look around the place when she woke up and then calling Azazel to give a report.

 **END!**

 **Yo, been a while...again.**

 **What can I say? Work, new house, new puppy yada yada stuff reasons excuses.**

 **Anyways I'm working on pretty much everything (including that one Alt account I have that you're not supposed to realize is me) but I don't know when anything will be posted. I'll probably have to cut the chapter sizes to get stuff up quicker. That's what i'm going to try to do anyway. We'll see if that happens.**


	3. Chapter 3

She had searched high and low, and yet Raynare hadn't come across _anything_ that might give away the truth about her target. It was like he was just some normal guy with a few posters of girls in clothing no better than hers.

'Fucker has me questioning my own apparel now…' It was infuriating really, how he managed to do that in a matter of seconds.

But she just _knew_ that there was something to be found, could feel it in her bones.

'It's here, something...somewhere...maybe just a small little tidbit, but it's here.' She'd started in the bedroom, because that's where every teenager kept all their dirty little secrets.

When she found nothing there, she moved to the living room. The setup made her think that a female presence was at least somewhat frequent. It was the lighting and decorative accents. The couch was center to the TV, as expected of a man. But then there were throw pillows. One on each of the 3 cushions, the middle one being red rather than the same light brown of the couch.

In the corner by the door, there was a fake plant that stood at head level for her. There were landscape pictures on the wall, giving the room color beyond the generic off-white walls.

There was no way that Issei had done this on his own. No straight teenager had this kind of sense.

If he were gay… then maybe.

Walking by the couch, running a hand over the blanket folded and hung over the top, Raynare stopped.

'The bed is one thing, but a blanket of this quality…? No, something isn't adding up.'

Just like the bed, the blanket in the living room was crazy soft. From what she'd learned of human men, they would be more likely to just turn up the heat than to spend money on something more decorative like this.

The amount he'd have to spend on this little piece would probably be an entire months heating bill. In every room except the bedroom, there seemed to be a feminine touch.

Not blatantly obvious like a bra hanging from a chair or some pink number in the bathroom, but just enough. Someone without her sight into the habits of both men and women might not see it, instead just thinking the person wanted their place to be welcoming and warm.

But on average, a man just didn't know _how_ to create an atmosphere like this, to say nothing of a _teenager_. But honestly, she could have written that off as a sister or mother if it weren't for the quality of each item.

Throwing that kind of money at things so unimportant was a supernatural habit. Devils in particular. He'd done well to hide it by getting things that weren't too flashy.

She didn't see or sense anything out of the ordinary though.

'Where is it….'

Moving towards the kitchen, Raynare let her keen eyes roam about the place. Everything seemed to be kept clean and orderly, a potential sign that Issei wasn't all that he appeared. Someone that came off as perverted and single mindedly driven as he was at school, shouldn't be this tidy at home in theory.

'No guy keeps anything hidden in the kitchen…' Raynare thought to herself, realizing that she was grasping at straws now.

But it was about the only place left that she could search, having done the bedroom, bathroom and living room already. Which had revealed nothing.

Opening the cabinets, she found spices, seasonings, boxed foods with _none_ being expired. It was too normal, too much like your average home with little subtle additions of something higher quality. If she didn't know who lived here already, from appearance alone, she would think of a guy in his 20's with a stable girlfriend that spent the night on a semi-frequent basis.

Not a teenager. Not Issei.

"One of these things is not like the other…" She opened the fridge, really hoping to find her culprit, that _thing_ that would jump out and give him away as being lightly affiliated with the supernatural in some way.

Milk, juice, bottled water, a left over container from dinner at some fancy place, she guessed it was fancy because the container wasn't just the typical cheap styrofoam or tin with that clear lid.

" _Good morning Raynare!"_ The circle appeared next to her ear with no warning, or at least she didn't notice the magic being activated.

"God fucking cunt stomper!" Raynare jumped, her head striking the handle for the freezer. She stood, one hand over her rapidly beating heart from the scare, and the other rubbing the back of her head.

" _I'm not sure what a cunt stomper is, but the old man never put the dipstick anywhere. Not even in Mary to make Jesus, completely ignoring my wise recommendations."_ The cheeky tone in his voice made it clear that Azazel found her odd string of curses amusing.

Having gotten used to his attitude over the years, plus a removal of her infatuation with the man, she was able to realize that there hadn't been _any_ chance for Azazel to stay within God's grace and protection.

"You advised the heavenly father to have Mary cheat on her husband… I can't even say i'm surprised."

No, Azazel trying to get someone to do something that revolved around sex was pretty much a common occurence amidst the fallen.

Angry because for one reason or another? Go get laid.

Tired but you can't sleep? You probably just need to cum, then you'll sleep like a baby.

Anxious about an upcoming event? Go fuck some random person.

You get the idea. If he wasn't dishing out orders or doing anything in an official capacity, his advice always came back to sex in some way.

" _Aaaaahhh, good times. The look on his face was priceless! 'How'd you get in here?!' he yelled. Haha! Though I probably shouldn't have said that I was stopping by to cop a feel on Gabriel."_ Shaking her head, Raynare went back to what she was doing, muttering each object absently as she did.

" _Anywho~, how about you give me an update on the kid."_ Azazel changed the subject to his actual reason for contacting her.

"Made contact with Issei yesterday. The devils have are turning their attention to him, so I kept it low key. We'll probably go out sometime soon, and I'll be able to get some info and get a better read on him and why he might be suppressing himself to the point of being nonexistent."

Soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, bbq, baking soda. Seriously, how many condiments did a person need?

" _Hmmm, that's pretty advanced for a human his age. Unless his sacred gear is the cause… but which one would do that?"_ Azazel was speaking to himself, with Raynare continuing her search that she was sure would yield nothing.

" _A subspecies of dimension lost? No, we'd have picked up on that beforehand. Delete field maybe? Or trick vanish? We still should have noticed something before picking up a signal that strong."_ It was starting to sound like Azazel had forgotten he'd called her.

Getting frustrated, Raynare pulled her hand back, moving to stand and close the fridge. She'd have to admit defeat here. Her fingers glanced across the edge of the left over food, tipping it just enough so that its weight shifted and toppled from the shelf and splattering on the floor.

"Sonuvabitch." The top hadn't been closed very well it seemed, and now there was some kind of thinly sliced meat with what appeared to be purple peppers. A few seconds passed as she just stared, unable to believe that little touch had done this.

"A waste of perfectly good food…" She groaned. Her life as a fallen had taught her the value of good cuisine, and the pains of it being spoiled.

" _Sorry what was that?_ " Azazel returned from his trailing thoughts.

Raynare blinked, whatever those peppers were, they were starting to make her nose burn and her eyes water from the smell alone. She was no stranger to spicy things, but _god damn_. Those had to be off the chart on that stupid Scoville thingy.

"Searching Issei's apartment. I know there's a clue here about him and the supernatural. I just tipped over some left over food in his fridge." Raynare sniffed and blinked her eyes, trying to stem the burn.

"Hopefully he wasn't looking forward to eating this." She turned the container, looking for a name of the establishment it came from. In a fancy, flowing font, she found the name.

"This place, Edesia's Garden, made some sort of unholy spicy dish." Seriously, she needed to get this cleaned up and get some fresh air. Her nose might not ever be the same after this.

" _Well now_ _ **that**_ _is interesting."_ Raynare flinched. The last time she heard him say that, she ended up with a stalker. That fucker was creepy as hell. For a human, he'd been incredibly stealthy. But that meant nothing against her superior senses. She'd been able to _smell_ the desperation on him.

After being successfully recruited, Azazel had wiped her from his mind. The memory still bugged her though.

"I'm afraid to ask but… What is?"

The silence between the end of her question and his answer dragged on for what felt like an eternity. In that brief time, she imagined any kind of response. It could be meaningless, his words meant for something he was looking at in HQ. It could be him thinking her careless and push her _further_ down the totem pole in the Grigori, though there wasn't much lower of a status to give.

" _It seems your friend is well connected. Edesia's is a VIP supernatural only restaurant in San Francisco, which means you're probably smelling the 24 million Scoville purple reaper peppers. It took me 4 months to get a 30 minute reservation there a few years back."_

No fucking way… Of all the things to link that pervy, weirdly insightful, intensely staring kid to her side of the world, it was _food?!_

" _I doubt Issei was able to get in by himself, but that brings up the question… who does he know well enough to either get him there or bring him the food? It wasn't any of our people. The angels don't dine that extravagantly. That leaves the devils, the Shinto or possibly Greeks."_

Grabbing some paper towels, Raynare managed to scoop the meal into the container while holding her breath. She'd seen some cleaning stuff in the closet that would be useful to take care of the juices on the floor.

"Aside from the devils, most other factions' keep their people in their own area of control. I doubt he's directly affiliated with them. Last I heard, the Shinto didn't have any humans outside of those attached to specific shrines. There's no shrine here, _and_ it's devil territory. Plus, Greeks associating with a Japanese kid that doesn't have a kill count known world wide, or a weird complex for a family member? Pft, you'd have better luck trying to get them into a baptist church."

Raynare was entirely aware that Azazel had left out the Norse, who were generally more open to outsiders. There were rumors that the fallen leader kept in contact with a few Norse gods, though for what reason she didn't know. Hopefully it was something actually productive.

Although, now that she thought about it, this might explain the weird morning she had a little better.

"What if… he's not _really_ with any of the groups?" Raynare asked carefully.

" _You have a theory?"_

As much as she didn't want to share what had happened, because it was embarrassing that she'd let it happen in the first place, it could be important.

"Issei passed out and fell into me yesterday, so I brought him home and accidentally fell asleep." She paused to see if Azazel would say anything. He didn't, so she continued.

"My transformation failed while I was asleep, and he saw me wings and all. Weird thing is, he didn't freak. He called me a cosplay enthusiast." She heard Azazel chuckle quietly, a tick in her brow started as she ignored him and kept going.

"He was able to pick me apart psychologically within a few minutes of having ever talked, saw my wings move and still didn't call me out on it."

" _I'm waiting for the part where you explain your actual theory."_

"I'm getting to it." Raynare said through grit teeth. Why was he annoying her so much right now?

"You know what happens when a person has their mind wiped of events too often." Raynare said assuredly.

It was a phenomenon that had just become fact. Something known and well documented but nobody could point to the specific cause. A humanoid mind could only be controlled so much for so long. Eventually, it would adjust and start to work around whatever was blocking or manipulating it.

Like when the body starts to become resistant to certain drugs, or you get used to certain smells and they don't bother you anymore.

"I've watched him at every available moment without getting too close to tip him or the devils off. I haven't seen anything to indicate that he knew of the supernatural or a sacred gear. The weird thing is, he gets this look in his eyes. Like he was watching for and predicting an enemy. It only happens when he's alone though."

" _You're saying that whoever this connection is, they've wiped his mind enough times that it doesn't work as it's supposed to anymore?"_

"If they've done that and are still coming around, it shows that this person cares for him. It could be possible that he isn't suppressing himself, but this third party did it in order to keep attention off of him. Not that it's entirely worked as planned now that the devils are shifting their eyes to him."

" _Did you search his entire place yet?"_ The fact that Azazel didn't flat out say she was wrong, meant that he thought it could be possible. And it was high praise, suggesting something that Azazel hadn't already considered and debunked.

"I did. The fridge was literally the only place I hadn't looked. His place is too clean for a guy his age living alone. And some of this stuff looks too nice to be bought on anything he could earn. There's no report of him getting some sort of inheritance from family. No pictures anywhere I can find that have any people in them. The parents must be estranged or dead."

Raynare thought of a few other hunches she had about the kind of person this third party was. Female, and it really _had_ to be a woman. Otherwise Raynare would just be lost on how Issei hadn't tried to touch one of the girls or ask them out. Little good that would do with his reputation.

She had to have taught Issei at least part of what he knew on interacting with women. He looked to be comfortable living alone, so his parents hadn't been in the picture for quite some time. But what is this woman? A devil? A Demi-God of some faction?

Raynare hoped it wasn't a devil, that could make things with her boyfriend awkward down the line…

'Hold up… What the fuck? _Down the line? BOYFRIEND?!'_ She hadn't even given him her real name. Thank god Azazel wasn't a mind reader, or in the same room as her right now. He would definitely call her out on the heat she could feel in her cheeks.

'Back it up girl. This is an assignment, nothing more.'

" _I'll admit that hadn't crossed my mind as a possibility. Being the one on the ground, i'll have to defer to your judgement. If that is indeed what's going on, even if he sees something unorthodox, he might not be able to fully comprehend it as such."_ Azazel said before releasing a long sigh.

" _We might have to cut our losses on this one. Anyone dining at Edesia's is one to avoid bad blood with. Good work Raynare. Finish up within the next day or two, make sure we're not letting some time bomb slip by, and then come back to HQ. I've got something else coming that will require your… interpersonal acrobatics."_

Raynare rolled her eyes at his not so subtle way of saying that she could act all sweet and kind even if her default was bitchy and arrogant. That was more of a critique on her general personality before she killed those devils, but she couldn't find it within herself to complain about his interpretation.

" _The thing is, this happens to be a sort of leadership role. And I can't have someone on the outs within the Grigori take it. So, finish this job, report to me, get promoted, then you'll be on the track to a better life. Deal?"_

Eyes widened to impossible size, Raynare thought she'd misheard for a second. Even still, the thought of asking _how_ her life would be better never occurred to her.

"Are you serious?!" She could have squealed in delight, but she quick to realize one key thing that deflated her mood.

"Only those with four wings are able to move to mid-rank…" Her voice was guarded, waiting for something that hadn't even been handed to her yet to be taken away.

She was _finally_ getting some recognition, some of the glory she had tried to viciously take herself. That's how it was supposed to be right? No one was just going to put power into your palm, physical, magical or political. You needed to _take it_ yourself. But this was one more thing that she'd been mislead on.

The scenario in her head was operating in a stagnant world were the consequences weren't very far reaching, partially because she wasn't too adept at identifying what those consequences might be.

" _Oh right, I never told you. There's a spot on your lower back that should feel warm to the touch. Poke it with a bit of light on your fingertip and POOF! Four wings, hidden thanks to the little sealing trick I learned a while back. I put it on you as a sort of insurance policy that you wouldn't get big-headed and try to pull something out of frustration for your punishment these last 4 years."_

She went from confused, to feeling a little scandalized, then happy, angry, rinse and repeat. But still, Raynare did as Azazel said and felt for a spot on her back that might be warmer than the others.

There, right in the center and just above the waistline on the lateral lumbar indentations. To put it layman's terms, the tramp stamp spot. Personally, she preferred the term Venusian dimples. It sounded fancier, sexier than the medical jargon.

'Thank fucking god no one ever found about me almost getting a pair of wings tattooed. Absinthe you are one cruel, conniving bitch.'

Poking her back with the smallest amount of light, she felt a rush. A rush that went straight to her head and overrode her better judgement.

"It's been _ten years, 7 months, and 4 days_ you fuckbag." Her tone was scathing, not caring that the man on the other end of the call could end her in over a thousand ways with barely a flick of his finger.

Azazel chuckled.

" _Oh I know. Was just waiting to see how the flux of power would grab you. It seems my guess was right, you've mellowed out a bit."_

 **-LineBreak-**

Looking thoroughly disheveled, Issei made it to school only a few minutes after the bell rang. Even _with_ using more speed than he probably should have around the general public. As he got closer to the school, Issei dialed back the speed in which his legs carried him, now just looking like a rather fit guy that was running behind.

His luck stayed true to form as the gates approached.

"...I-I found your… your…" He heard a voice, Saji's, as the hedges gave way to the path towards the entrance.

Standing close to the building and out of view from any class windows, were Sona and her new pawn.

 **SLAP**

Issei nearly fell over himself as he realized what was probably happening, and the victorious grin came upon him before he could do anything about it.

Passing the gate, Issei took stock of the two.

Both were blushing like virgin nuns who thought the video titled 'Devil's Triangle' would be something they could use as an educational tool to help them steer clear of evil influences.

On a side note, the very thought of that had Issei feeling his blood start to boil. It was probably just the dragon side of him, but he could be incredibly possessive at times. He was not unaware of this. Luckily there was only one person at the moment that made him react this way.

If he were like other dragons… _fuck_ , who knew what would happen.

"Why are you carrying women's undergarments?" Sona had snatched the aged panties from her pawn, glaring at him through glasses that had fallen slightly in embarrassed shock of what he presented to her.

"T-they're yours."

Slowing down to a walk, Issei hoped they would be too caught up in the moment to notice him slipping by.

" _Excuse_ me?" Wow… Sona sounded pissed.

"I found them on your desk when I came in this morning." Oh man, Sera was going to love hearing about this. Maybe it would even get her to forget about the whole Fallen angel thing. Probably not, but he could hope.

"And you just… What did you think…. Just _why?_ " This was something he didn't possible unless under the intense affections of her older sister. Sona Sitri, the calm, level headed, calculative Heiress. She was rendered unable to coherently communicate her distress.

"It um… It has your initials." Saji reached over to point to the inside of the band.

'Bad move dude.' Seriously, this guy wasn't picking up on her body language, _actual_ language, or anything else. Why in the world would he make it obvious that he'd _inspected_ said undergarment?

An open pervert he may be, but Issei didn't broadcast information that would hurt him.

Her hand moved with a quickness that wasn't human, hiding the fabric from his view as Sona turned her eyes in his direction.

Busted.

"You're late Hyoudou... _Again._ " Her eyes narrowed on him, and Issei cursed Saji. Those pent up emotions were now going to be unleashed on him. True, he _had_ been the one to put the panties on her desk, but she didn't know that. And he hadn't done it just because he felt like it.

His right foot paused in its descent, he'd almost made it by them before getting caught.

Issei gave the pair a smile.

"Well you see, funny thing. I kinda woke up to this random older chick in my bed, really hot. No idea how she got there though. Or I didn't know until I asked." Knowing they wouldn't believe him in the first place, Issei kept his lie as close to the truth as possible. The best ones always had a foundation of truth, or so he'd been told.

If it weren't for the fact that he needed to stay under the radar, he could have just said he woke up to a fallen angel in his bed. A really hot one. Like, _really_ hot.

On second thought, that was probably a bad idea. It would just get Sona and Rias to go all territorial and things would get messy. It was better if he handled this alone.

"Turns out she's into me, but I was so tired yesterday that I really don't remember meeting her. Or how we got back to my place, or into my bed. And _that_ is the real tragedy here."

Saji crossed his arms, taking the chance to delay his conversation with Sona.

"Yea right Hyoudou. Only a really damaged girl would get with you. The kind that defends anything you did, like cheating on her or getting arrested for sexual harassment."

Ouch. That one actually kind of hurt. Maybe he should clean his act up a little?

Nah, people would only get suspicious and start invading his privacy. Besides, he'd been careful about what he did, when and where he did it. Things just so happened to swing in his favor. Kuoh had really dropped the ball when they switched to co-ed. Issei had even made low-key notices of the places he and his buddies used for peeping.

Issei would never deny a chance to _look_ at a good looking girl of reasonable age in a state of undress. But that by no means meant him touching. Consent was a _must_.

Faking a stumble, Issei placed his hands over his heart in implied pain.

"You wound me. Rule #1 bro, looking is free, touching requires permission."

Sona looked like she was about to challenge that statement for a brief second, before her eyes flickered to and fro, searching her memory to prove him a liar. Instead, when she couldn't think of anything off hand, she chose the more obvious grievances placed against him.

"Looking may be free, but that would imply that said young woman is in a public space."

With everything that had gone down in the last two days, Issei realized that he was in for a lot of work in the not so distant future. If the temptation were removed, he'd be able to focus better. Katase and Murayama were a deadly combo for his resolve. Katase had an ass like an olympic gymnast, and Murayama's rack was just right.

There had to be some past models in those two gene pools.

"According to the extensive student code of conduct, I haven't done anything wrong." The disbelieving looks that were leveled on him were almost funny.

"I know for a fact that no males are permitted into the girls locker room. It was one of the addendums to the rules that I personally oversaw." Sona had her arms crossed. She hid it well, but he could see a bit of the underwear clenched in her hands.

"If you're talking about last week, I wasn't there." Her eyes narrowed on him.

Saji had no choice, he had to come to his defense. It was well known that lying wasn't tolerated well by her. Matsuda could attest to that.

"He wasn't. I was standing outside the room when the other two were dragged out." If Issei was right, that was the day after he'd been reincarnated. Wanting to get a feel for the guy, Issei had stayed back and observed with the full use of Ghost Walker.

"And the peeking on girls while they change?" She seemed determined to nail somebody right now, to deliver a righteous act of deserved punishment for what she'd already determined to be her sister interfering in her life.

"I don't have a photographic memory, but I _did_ read the rules from start to finish before my first year started. So to paraphrase, 'If there are any suggestions or concerns regarding the school, a grievance can be made in written form to be handed in to the student council who will review and pass it up to the board. The student shall not be reprimanded for any concerns brought forth.'"

"Oh what a bunch of crap! I read your _suggestions_. Shorter skirts and heels for the girls, that's all they ever say." Issei smirked with one brow raised.

"Really? Because I distinctly remember naming all 6 locations that happen to have a view into an area where any of our fellow young women here at Kuoh Academy might be seen changing. If you didn't read it, that's not my fault. Nor can I be blamed for continuing to notice how such spots have gone unattended."

Issei knew that he'd have to be careful now. Sona would be paying attention to him and his actions on campus. That was fine with him as he had other things that needed to be dealt with. As for off campus things, he didn't see himself needing to do anything that would require any magical means.

All he had to do for right now was keep his senses open and alert, maybe sneak around with Ghost Walker here and there. But more than likely just keeping his ear to the ground.

"I will _personally_ review your delivered notes, but there is still the issue of your tardiness." Sona drummed her fingers along the other arm.

"Detention for today. Make sure you are in class at the appropriate time Hyoudou, or you will find yourself receiving longer sentences."

"As you command supreme leader!" He stated with a salute, and rushed off towards his class.

The day sped by with little fanfare out of the usual, mainly his friends speaking about things best left to the quiet confines of their own homes.

His teachers droned on and on about one subject or another, praising the scores of some and wishing those near the bottom of the grade scale better fortune with their studies in the future.

By the time the lunch break rolled around, Issei was keenly aware of a presence.

It didn't want to be noticed, willing itself to be nothing more than another in the crowd. No matter what they _wanted_ , the one it belonged to still stood out. Apathetic towards almost everything, Issei could feel that this person was, in fact, taking an interest in him.

'That happened faster than I thought.' He couldn't but wonder if Rias was pushing the limits of propriety, asking her rook to shadow him during school.

If the world weren't as cruel of a place as it was, he shouldn't have been able to hide from them this long if at all. But that was reality. Koneko wouldn't be able to decipher who she was actually watching, all because she shunned an aspect of herself after what happened with her sister.

Issei would like to think her actions were just a phase of teenage rebellion, but he knew full well that she had good reason to do so. The underworld had gone on a Senjutsu purge for a while, and only those that had connections came out as untouched as possible.

That was a strange time for him to be honest, a new devil being privy to the inner workings of the leaders of the entire race. Under a year after his reincarnation, he'd been brought to the scene of the murder of a branch member of the Naberius family.

He'd been a little on edge of seeing the body, and wandered around the manse as a child was one to do. What he'd found had been a factor the leaders eventually pulling the hunt for the stray bishop.

She'd still killed her king, but they could hardly blame her after the voice recordings and the journal had been found. If any bothered to look at her status, no longer was it listed as 'Terminate', but 'wanted'.

" _Issei."_ Motohama whispered as he and Matsuda approached the desk.

His bespectacled friend leaned close, bracing his hands on the desk.

" _The holy grail, i've found it."_ Obviously the young man wasn't speaking literally, because Issei had no doubt all the devils in the school would have been a shivering mess if he had.

A part of him wanted to warn his friends of what had taken place earlier that morning, but then he remembered a comment they had made.

Apparently, both of his friends felt he was too easy to give up and bail from any spot they'd found, that they should have ventured to be bolder in their actions. What that translated to, he wasn't sure, only that it sounded like it ended in meeting the wrong end of some kendo equipment.

'If you guys start touching the girls, I won't be able to keep Sona from expelling you.' He wanted to say. That would do no good though. His friends would then follow a train of thought that led them through blaming him for their lack of success with the fairer sex, to being involved in them getting caught. He wouldn't be surprised if they assumed him to be some sort of masochist, that he enjoyed the rough and scolding treatment.

Issei caught the glancing looks from the other students, mostly girls since Kuoh was heavily female and thus the reason why his two friends were here in the first place, they were watching warily. They knew that the trio was up to no good, or at least discussing things that they would have to be on the lookout for.

The sparse males in the class shook their heads, not liking that these 'three' were getting the girls in the school to constantly have their guard up. It made getting a date much harder when the girl was waiting for something that could be mistaken for some untoward action.

"Sorry guys, can't go along today. I was late and the president is gonna be all up my ass for a bit."

Neither Matsuda or Motohama looked deterred, instead they both smirked as though he wouldn't be able to stay away from the feast that they would partake in.

" _Oh, is that so? Well, more for us then. Guess we'll just have to split the crack into the girls showers."_

" _Always thought she had a rod up hers, never thought she was in to sticking up someone else's."_

For just a moment, that gave Issei pause. _The_ _ **showers**_ _?_ His friends had found a direct line of sight to seeing the girls in all their glory, washing away the sweat of the efforts that had toned and shaped those supple bodies? He ignored the comment about Sona, mostly for fear that Sera's weird sixth sense would kick in and she'd descend upon him like the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

 _ **[Your Feline follower would make that a poor decision.]**_ Ddraig decided that his two cents should be added.

'Yea but…. C'mon Ddraig!'

 _ **[No. Your flights of fantasy are bad enough at home, falling prey to them in this institution of hormones and lies is an order of magnitude worse at the moment.]**_

Killjoy.

Issei held back the depressed sigh he wanted to make right then.

The silver lining was that he hadn't known of this spot before, which meant that Sona likely had no clue the spot was there, and he'd be able to enjoy it at least once before it got sealed.

Matsuda looked like he was about to speak before Issei raised his hand to pause him.

"Not another word. Don't let me be the reason it gets sealed on the first go around."

But they _would_ be telling him it's location later. He would make it so.

 _ **[I had foolishly hoped that losing your virginity would at least lessen your...tendencies.]**_ Ddraig sighed. The red dragon liked to say that he'd just give up on getting Issei to change, but each and every time without fail, Ddraig still tried to steer the lad.

' _Hey! If the day ever comes when Sera and I can be together and actually have any sort of sex life, then_ _ **maybe**_ _my drive to see the perfection that is the female body will ease up. Until then, this is what you have to deal with.'_

Unfortunately, Issei wasn't about to hold his breath. As stressed as the head of foreign affairs was, she enjoyed her job. And the lack of any mention of wanting things to ever be more than.. whatever the hell they had, it didn't seem to be getting that sort of happy ending.

Which sucked, because Issei would move sun and stars to make her happy. All he needed was the chance. If there were a few words in his favor, then maybe things would change, but that wasn't likely.

As much as he respected her, Grayfia hated his guts for… reasons, some of which were reasonable and others that were just plain stupid in his opinion. That meant no support from Sirzechs, which would have been all that he really needed. The crimson satan had a silver tongue.

"You're a true friend Issei, looking out for us like this." Motohama pushed a finger underneath his oversized glasses to wipe at the moisture in his eye.

Issei shrugged with a smile. "What are friends for if not to help you see some T&A?"

 **-LineBreak-**

She had to wonder if this was a good idea after all. Serafall was checking herself over one more time, making sure her appearance was perfect and would catch Issei by surprise.

The glamour had been tailored to make her look like a woman that he'd had a difficult time tearing his eyes from. Not that she blamed him.

Her hair was loose, and changed to a deep blue, she wore business attire with a skirt and jacket of a dark grey. Her height had been altered and her bust only slightly changed to match the stature.

Her eyes though, those couldn't be changed, but it did give a good contrast with her hair and clothing.

'This is the moment Issei, the moment where we stop this tiptoeing around. I love you, and I know you love me. That's all that matters.'

In her hand was a box made of a nice dark hardwood with a velvet interior, it held what should have been given to him long ago. 15 chess pieces that pulsed with demonic power. Atop that was a rolled up piece of finely made paper with a seal of the leviathan.

Issei would be getting the land he earned.

It was agreed that she never teleported into his apartment, just in case there was a human inside. She had yet to come over urging one of those times, but agreed to the safety measure.

Her transport circle of cerulean shined to life beneath her, spinning quickly as her excitement rose. How could she not be happy right now? He'd been snubbed by the devil kings for too long, and she had finally corrected the mistake.

True, he hadn't gotten his rank from the traditional means, but he was no less worthy than Tannin or Diehauser or Roygun.

With a flash of blue, she was taken to the building, in a room that had been closed off and paid for to keep her anonymity. It wouldn't do for Sona or Rias to know she was coming here.

As she walked out of the room and towards the stairs, her mind drifted to the things that would have to be worked out between them.

'We'll need to revisit the harem idea… I don't believe for a moment that Issei would be so easily controlled, but it's definitely a point to bring up.'

She had no problem with him sleeping with other girls, it was a part of devil culture that she'd long gotten used to. A part of her was dreading the day that finally happened, that his attention would be pulled elsewhere. But Serafall was not blind to the fact that she couldn't spend as much time with him as she'd like.

'He's a dragon, with a dragons appetite. I'm a limping mess the day after we have sex anyway, some help might be a good thing.' Her thoughts only helped so much.

She pulled a key to his door from a pocket, sliding it into the lock and twisting. The click of the door almost sounded foreboding and echoed off the empty hall.

The knob turned easily, and the door gave way to the hall that split to go to the kitchen, living room or bedroom.

Taking one step in, she felt a small shiver. The feeling was familiar, though not pleasant. It was the shiver that came from feeling one that wielded something horribly effective against a devil. Light.

Then she could smell it, the pheromones of a woman built for seduction. A fallen.

Thinking quickly, Sera surveyed what she could. Seeing that all appeared to be intact, it was clear that this fallen hadn't fought him inside. If that had happened, Issei would have contacted her.

What was a fallen doing here in the first place? As far as she or any of the others knew, they stayed out of devil territory. Azazel had made himself known for his checking into sacred gear users, so there was a chance that Issei was suspected to have one. But to come _here?_ They had to suspect something big to justify the risk. Or maybe Azazel trusted his subordinate that much.

Sirzechs had mentioned Rias briefly saying something to that affect not too long ago.

"I know you're here." She called out, hoping whoever it was kept a level head.

The evil pieces and land deed vanished in a flourish of blue light, she'd give them over later.

Her steps were slow into the home of her queen, eyes scanning every detail for something out of place. She found none.

"You the one that brought him Edesia's?" A female voice, sultry and smooth, called back.

Sera blinked in surprise, of all the responses, that hadn't been an expected one.

"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend eating it. Issei has a crazy strong tolerance for spicy food that would knock just about anyone else on their ass." Though it wasn't really a surprise that someone capable of breathing fire would be that way.

"This gonna be one of those thing where we talk nice until we make eye contact and then fight?"

Sera stepped passed the kitchen, seeing nothing out of place there.

"I'd really prefer not to mess up his apartment." She kept moving forward, the voice sounding like it was in the living room.

"So no fighting then, i'm down with that." There was a note in the voice that made Sera relax the slightest bit, something honest and true. Her guard wouldn't be completely lowered, that would just be dumb to do. But she would definitely take the chance of having a conversation with this fallen.

Issei hadn't been told, just like any of the satans peerage except Grayfia, that they'd been working towards peace with the fallen and angels. It was still in the early stages, but progress was being made. That made this woman's appearance all the more strange.

Sera rounded the corner into the living room, flat ceiling giving way to the vaulted ones with large windows, and could see the head of long dark hair seated on the couch with the tv volume low and on some sort of home improvement show.

The fallen looked up from where she had been painting her nails, one hand and one foot already done. An odd order to do them but whatever. The face that Sera saw was flawless, symmetrical, and those violet eyes were clear and piercing.

"Don't mind me, just sprucin' up to ask Issei out." Sera wondered if that was meant to rile her up. Walking around the couch, Sera could see the full image of the woman that was clearly altered through magic.

It took centuries to be able to sense things like that, an almost imperceptible shimmer around the person's body. Still though, she was stunning. Long black hair, violet eyes, full breasts, narrow waist and flared hips attached to long smooth legs.

In a perfect world, Sera wouldn't mind seeing this woman sandwiched between her and Issei. There was just that whole… mortal enemy bit, to contend with.

"I would have suggested something close to your eyes rather than blue." It did look nice though, the polish was a shade lighter than her own eyes. Something to consider for a later date.

"Bet he would too, after what he said to me this morning. _But..._ it's all I have at the moment."

The fallen paused, looking Sera over for several beats.

"A devil huh? Makes sense I guess, given where we are. Can't say i'm not disappointed though." That one was definitely made to spark a reaction, or at least to judge one.

Sera sat down in the love seat, her hand gliding over the soft edge of the fabric as she recalled the time her and Issei had gotten close to having sex right here.

"Born and raised. So you and Issei?" She was quick to change the subject, not wanting to get into any territory that might illicite a negative response.

Her unlikely companion took it in stride, going back to paint her toes.

"Sort of. I met him yesterday on the bridge and asked him out, but he was so out of it that I doubt he remembers." The cause for that was easy to determine, and Sera had to hold back the urge to wince.

She'd put Issei in a position to be taken advantage of. Possibly killed.

"I brought him back here. When we woke up, there wasn't much time before he bolted out to head to school. Didn't even ask for my name. Which is Raynare by the way."

Sera found it odd that this fallen was giving so much away, not that she disliked that. The honesty put her at ease.

"I'm Sera. Issei and I have been friends for a long time. Human or otherwise, it's nice to see someone else take an interest in him." That was the honest truth. No one seemed willing to see the heart of gold beneath the sexually driven exterior, the lonely man with so much love to give and no one to give it to.

Raynare paused in her strokes, looking quizzically up to Sera's blue eyes.

"You're taking all of this really well." Her pointed words were not lost to Sera.

Certainly, almost any other devil would have raged and been throwing attacks around by now, ruining the apartment. Serafall was not one of these devils. Aside from her desire to see Issei get the love and respect he deserved, she could tell when someone had hostile intentions. This woman didn't appear to be a threat.

"Because i'm a devil and you're a fallen?" Her question was asked with a tilt to the head.

Raynare nodded.

"You don't plan on hurting him do you?" Her answer was a shake in the negative.

"Then I see no problem. Our people would see this as a grave issue, but the journey for love doesn't abide by our rigid standards." The memory of Cleria Belial and her exorcist lover came to mind. She and Issei had been gone for an assignment and training weekend when that occurred. It would have happened differently under her watch.

"I'm not sure i'd mention the word _love_ anywhere in there, but he certainly has a way of working his way into a girls head." Sera had to withhold the smile.

'That's how it starts. He'll say something that catches you off guard, gets your attention. Then he treats you like you were made of glass. A princess. It'll be too late then. You're ensnared, trapped in his grasp forever, not that you'll ever want to escape.'

"It's obvious that you already have first dibs, but I don't have to worry about him losing control of whatever it is he's got and killing a bunch of people right?" It took a moment for Sera to realize that Raynare was talking about a sacred gear. She shook her head.

"Issei is no danger to anyone." That was a white lie, he could kill thousands in an instant if he wanted. But there was no way Ddraig would let Issei do that even in the worst of circumstances.

"Then I'll be out of your hair in a few days time. Just need to get the right answers for my report before I leave."

'Somehow I doubt that little bird. You might leave, but that doesn't mean you won't be back.'

"So long as you're good to him while you're around, be as honest as you can be without getting into trouble, how long you stay isn't a factor."

Raynare chuckled quietly, her purple eyes carrying a strange lightness.

"Kind of a roundabout way for the guys sugar mama to say she doesn't mind if I fuck him, don't you think?"

Sera's smile was decidedly less pleasant, more of a guilty sort.

"I'm sure you understand how some of my friends would take to learning of him and I being together, so I can't be with him as much as i'd like. If Issei is happy, if we still get to spend those moments I actually _am_ free, he can fuck whoever he pleases."

Raynare's eyes widened slightly, a piece of the puzzle that was Issei Hyoudou sliding into place. There were still many missing, but something in what Sera had said made a moment from that morning make a little sense.

"Wow, he's got it bad for you doesn't he?" Sera tilted her head, confused. She wouldn't say no, but she didn't understand where that had come from.

"Y'know what… nevermind." Raynare shook her head. It was probably better if she didn't go down that rabbit hole. Pure-blood devils were weird about the whole maintaining the blood lines thing, and how they would look in the eyes of their peers for screwing around with a human. The Fallen were much better in that regard.

You got black feathered wings on your back? You're a fallen, half or quarter didn't matter. The only time it even slightly mattered was if they had a sacred gear, but it wasn't as though they were looked down on. That kid that Azazel adopted way back when had a bad case of self loathing covered up by his haughty and blood thirsty arrogance, all because of the shit he apparently went through for being half human.

"Recruitment was taken off the table the moment I saw the food from Edesia's. Which I accidentally knocked out of the fridge, sorry about that. As much as I would like to take your word for it and move on, I have to confirm for myself that he's safe to leave alone. Can't have the head honcho questioning my judgement and all that."

Raynare blew on her freshly painted toes, and Sera took the moments of silence to think.

She _should_ be upset that Issei had come into contact with a fallen and hadn't told her immediately. She should be upset that it was her own fault that it had happened.

Aside from that, she was actually quite proud of him. Issei had a fallen in his home, in close proximity to him and didn't give his devil status away. He'd kept his cool and hadn't apparently risen any red flags from the woman.

Normally, she might have felt that familiar heat of protectiveness fall over her, coloring her vision red. But this was a situation that had more than met the eye.

This achievement of his was an opportunity, both for Issei to gain some recognition, and to further the peace between the three factions. She could use this to give Issei the freedom she'd wanted him to have. It would be a long and drawn out process, with bumps and unforeseen curves and twists in the road, but it could be done.

All that needed to happen was for this fallen angel to come to love her queen, and Issei was oh so good at that when the woman gave him the chance. A love story at just the right time would be just what they needed, Raynare had mentioned something that made Sera think it wouldn't take much.

But should she have Raynare keep silent about meeting her in his apartment? He was already likely to be apologizing profusely.

"Yes, recruiting him would… _not_ be advised. If you could, would you not mention our meeting? I had wanted to surprise him." She kept her tone genial, vague and full of implied things that had Raynare raising a brow with a smirk.

"Some spontaneous afternoon delight eh? I have to say i'm surprised he ain't a virgin, what with his rep at the school. Makes me all the more curious about what's hiding underneath that pervy exterior."

Sera turned to leave, assured that she wouldn't be attacked.

"Gold. Pure, brilliant, passionate gold."

She hadn't truly thought that her schedule would clear until tomorrow, so it was only with a small tinge of regret that she was leaving without coming to fulfill the promise she'd made him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Don't do this Sera." The voice would have startled her, but the former Sitri heiress had been in a state of high alert ever since she learned that her fellow leaders had been spying on her queen.

It wasn't much bigger of a step to think they might be spying on _her_ as well.

Hearing Sirzechs nearly begging was not something that occurred very often, the man was used to getting his way either through his charming exterior or the frightening power hidden underneath a soft smile.

"You overstepped. All of you did." Turning from her view out of the office window, Serafall was greeted with a clearly distressed man. His face looked only slightly worn, but when the man in question was always pristine, that said a lot. A few strands of hair out place, a bread crumb on his jacket.

"So you would have Rias pay the price of _our_ mistake?" Ah, the infamous temper of the Bael's. Venerana was the most collected in the family by far, and had passed that emotional control down to her son.

Zekram played the calm old man, never losing his cool, but she saw through him easily. A shift in the jaw, the twitch in a finger. There was always a sign.

Aquamarine eyes swirled in frustration, and it would have had almost any other being giving in. But not her, not when it came to this particular subject.

"How many opportunities have you let slip by? How many alternatives did you have to get Rias out of that engagement? Ten? Twenty?" Trying to guilt her back into the plan wasn't going to work, Sirzechs and Grayfia had every chance in the world to save her from what they saw as a horrible fate.

Riser was a prick sure, not likely to love Rias in the way that the girl wanted, but he wasn't going to abuse her in any way. Not with how Sirzechs hovered over anything she did. It would be suicide for the 3rd son of the Phenex family.

There was something else that was bugging her too, something that Serafall should have addressed long before now it would seem.

"And what is with Grayfia's hatred towards my queen anyway? I can understand feeling a little miffed about him being stronger than her, even a little insulted that he isn't of the same renown as the other queens. But the way she spoke was more than just a bruised ego."

Sirzechs didn't answer, he just continued to look at her with that same angered gaze.

"Nothing to say? Fine then." She didn't want to get herself worked up, there were better uses for her time. Like prepping for how to go about the conversation Issei was likely to have with her about the fallen angel she'd met earlier today.

The woman seemed honest and open minded enough, a rare thing between the two species. It would be best to wait before contacting Azazel, if she did at all. Letting it be known that Raynare had come across the queen of the Leviathan wasn't exactly an option, but it could be worded differently to have the same effect.

If there was peace though… that opened up so many doors. While her peerage kept an eye on pretty much any and all factions, the fallen and angels were the key players.

"You should have trusted me Sirzechs, just like I trusted you." She really didn't like maintaining this serious attitude, her job was more fun when she could smile and laugh and joke around.

The silence continued, she wasn't sure what Sirzechs was thinking, but her mind was already hard at work with how to handle a variety of things.

If Raynare truly did bail before anything could come of the relationship Sera felt was just around the corner from starting, the negotiation angle would be picked up once more. It was how they'd been dealing with things so far anyway, so no real progress would be lost.

It wasn't a big secret that none of the three sides could really sustain through another war.

Sera heard Sirzechs release the biggest sigh she'd ever heard from him. Turning to see what might have changed, it was surprising to see the anger fade.

"What was it that you wanted to say back in the meeting?" His eyes were still closed, but his normal tone and expression were back.

An eyebrow quirked up, she wasn't sure what this had to do with the current discussion but she didn't mind telling.

"I've already taken care of it. The pieces and land have been issued. Discreetly of course." Just because she wanted Issei to be recognized as her queen by everyone, that didn't mean she would just trample over the other statutes in place. If she did that, there would be a mess to deal with.

Rias and Sona would be displaced as holders of Kuoh, Issei's status as an ultimate class devil overruling their own. If they wanted to contest it, it would have to be through one of the two established ways. A rating game or an exam on the area in question.

Either way, Issei would win. If the girls teamed up against him alone, that match would only last for as long as Issei felt like holding back. As for the exam… he'd lived there his entire life, and knew that town like the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry." Sirzechs breathed out as he sat in the chair on the opposite side of her desk. It appeared the Gremory side of him was back in control.

' _Good. Maybe we can get somewhere.'_ She thought, letting herself relax and wait for what else he had to say.

"We trust your judgement Sera, we do. But Issei was an… unconventional choice." He raised his hands in defense when her nostrils flared.

"I didn't say a bad choice. To be honest we were all expecting you to take that idol dabbling in spirit cleansing as your queen, but it's hard to say you made the wrong decision when he beat Grayfia at fourteen years old."

The person he was talking about had only been an option up to the point that Serafall met her. Turns out that her prospective queen had taken to watching those mega church shows on tv and felt it was her duty to summon and _kill_ the ones she summoned.

The quirky outfits and persona had drawn Serafall's attention, but the absolute insanity in those eyes wasn't something that reincarnation could cure.

"No. Issei is the best queen I could ask for." She could still remember the day they met. It was purely by chance, a moment alone in a park that was under the control of a member of one of the underworlds more powerful families.

Cleria had been a friend of sorts, and didn't mind if she popped in from time to time to get away.

The young boy, swinging a stick at a tree with all the might in his body, he'd needed a friend in that moment and she needed a distraction. The red rimmed eyes caught her by surprise, he'd obviously been crying but she couldn't have known why that was.

How old had he been then, 8 or 9?

Now that she thought about it, it was almost his mother's birthday. She'd have to put a few hours aside for that, and forge the signature for an excused absence from classes.

Sera knew that he wanted to visit her more often, but he just… couldn't. There were few things she could think of that were more heartbreaking than watching as Issei was once again face to face with the fact that his mother… well, there wasn't a magic in the world that could fix it.

"There are too many ways for things to wrong, experience is the best tutor in many of the ways that would keep it all together. And that can only come with time. I can only apologize for myself for what was said."

For a man so good at dealing with their people, he only seemed to be looking at one side of things.

"And who was it that put all those responsibilities on him hmm?" She asked with a hint of anger. She continued before Sirzechs had a chance to respond.

" _Us._ We did that. You, me, Ajuka and Falbium. You and I made him swear to secrecy while he went to school with our sisters after the were handed Kuoh. Falbium and Ajuka put Ingvild in his care. We all pushed him to be more than he was ready to be, and he adjusted as best as he could. A 17 year old former human should not have the power that he does, it's corrupted hundreds of pure-blooded supernatural beings, and yet he's still the same gentle soul I met almost ten years ago. He's better than any of you seem to be willing to admit."

For several moments, Sirzechs looked like he was about to admit her point. Just when she thought he would, his expression changed. His eyes started searching hers for something.

Whatever it was, he seemed to find it.

"You love him."

Fuck. Maybe she'd gone a little too hard in his defense. There was no use denying it, she might be the better manipulator between them, but that didn't mean that Sirzechs couldn't read people. Especially those he'd known for centuries.

"I do."

Sera held her breath, ready for what was sure to come next. _You can't be with him because he wants a harem, you know the law Sera._

Only, that wasn't what came next. All the time she'd gone over that law written when they took positions as leaders of devil-kind seemed to be useless in this conversation.

"I'm happy for you." The smile Sirzechs gave her wasn't the usual one he used for public appearance. It was the smile she remembered from when they were young. His lips curled up and showed the white of his teeth, the crinkle next to his eyes, the dimples on each cheek.

It was the smile he had before all of the things they were forced to do in the civil war.

"No lecture about the harem law?" She couldn't but ask, still wary that her friend was going to try and shut down her relationship with Issei.

"No. How many times have I tried to convince you to do something Sera?"

She scoffed, that wasn't a question that was able to be answered accurately.

"Too many to count."

"And how many times did it work?"

That one made her think. There was the time he told her that she had to pick some of the flowers in the garden, her mother's garden. She almost did it too. The only time he had _actually_ convinced her to do anything was…

"Just once. I wanted to step aside for Grayfia to be named Leviathan. You convinced me that I shouldn't. We couldn't have your wife being one of the four leaders and expect to be followed."

Sirzechs nodded, but then his smile turned a little sheepish.

"To be completely honest, there was more to it. I couldn't bear the thought of her being swamped with work when that time could be spent with me. So if I wanted to marry her, she had to have opposition for the role. Opposition that had a good chance of winning, and there was only one person I could think of that was already interested."

She breathed out a chuckle.

"So it was for love." He nodded to her statement.

"I'm sorry about the way we presented ourselves in the meeting Sera. Putting aside everything else, I know the chances of you being coerced are negligent. As long as you don't prove me wrong, the others can't really refute any relationship you choose to have with him."

Good, so he was already aware of the little loop hole she'd technically be using. Just because the leaders couldn't have a harem themselves, not that she really had the desire, it said nothing about being a participant.

As much as she didn't want to, it was really going to bug her if she didn't get some sort of answer to her last question.

"Zechs, why does Grayfia hate him so much?" She was already aware of the obvious points.

Issei wasn't a pure-blooded devil like the other leaders' queens. He didn't have the same renowned status for one reason or another. He was incredibly young for a position that dealt with much of the deeper things going on within their society, and his attitude wasn't necessarily professional like the others.

But the way Grayfia spoke at the meeting said something else, and she wanted to know what the cause of it was.

"I wish I could give you the specifics, but she wouldn't say. All I _do_ know, is that after a conversation some time ago Grayfia doesn't trust him. It must have been something personal because I've never seen her that angry before."

Sera remembered that day, only she hadn't thought too much of it at the time. Grayfia, Behemoth, Musashi and herself had been helping train him for a few days. Grayfia had been planning to go over some magical explanations that day when she suddenly blew her top and left. Ever since that day, Grayfia refused to be anywhere near him if at all possible.

A year later, it was required for each of the queens to spar against him, and Grayfia hadn't started slow like the others. She went all out from the beginning. An hour later, with the artificial dimension completely wrecked, there was a new _Strongest Queen._

 **-LineBreak-**

His detention had gone mostly as expected, except for the part where Aika decided to stop by and swap dirty jokes as he swept the _entire fucking building_.

Including but not limited to; What does a perverted frog say? Rub it. What happens when a woman skydives naked? They whistle. What do you call a hooker with a runny nose? Full.

He'd actually had to explain that one to her. And while it did help the time pass by a little faster, though it was weird that she was just walking around with him, some of the jokes were just… wrong. It usually involved kids. Say what you will about his wide range of porn habits, kids were a clear no-go. Anything more than a year younger than him and it was just gross.

So when she asked him, what's the difference between a catholic priest and a zit, he was already expecting it.

The answer? A zit will wait until you're twelve to cum on your face.

Issei could pretty much guarantee no one else in the school had ever seen the angry and disgusted look on his face that was directed towards Aika then.

She had the balls to ask if that one was too much. He didn't bother answering.

 _ **[It seems the fallen is still in your home.]**_

Issei looked up to the building coming into view, pulling away from the thoughts of his after school meetup. _Unwanted_ though it was. Seriously, if the girl thought that joke was okay, he really had to wonder what else was going on in that brain of hers.

He wouldn't be all that surprised anymore if someone told him that Aika was into furry gangbang porn. The shudder couldn't be stopped. He'd been tricked into watching it once… _never again._

 _ **[Focus damn you!]**_

'Okay okay, shit man.'

Issei took a breath to rid himself of the filth that was Aika and her probable furry fantasies.

'Seriously though, if we ever encounter a furry, they _burn_. No if's, and's, or but's. Back to the matter at hand, what is she still doing here? I thought she would have just taken off and met me on the bridge some other day.'

Considering he still had his little kitty devil shadow, Otherwise known as Koneko, he hoped that the fallen was disguising herself. He couldn't feel anything antithetical from here, but that didn't mean she wasn't in all her black winged bikini splendor and had just drawn all the curtains.

It had taken him a few months before Ghost Walker became natural to using 24/7. Issei had to doubt that she had that kind of training under her belt. Or...waist band? Thong? G-string? Shroud of Turin? What's the proper terminology here?

 _ **[That girl has left your mind in a haze of filth. And how did Shroud of Turin even come to mind?]**_ Ddraig's voice started annoyed, but his question was asked uneasily, knowing that the answer was likely to be nonsensical and ridiculous.

'Because if you look at it just right, you can see Jesus, or an outline of Jesus. In this case, Jesus = pussy. Just as the Bible says that Jesus was a divine figure, every man will acknowledge that the female genitalia is just as warm and welcoming as-'

 _ **[Alright I get it! Never talk to that horrid woman again.]**_

It was rare for Ddraig to be so antagonistic towards anyone that wasn't Albion. Issei had to admit that his mind had been more in the gutter since the dirty joke hour than it had been in a while. It reminded him of the days in middle school.

'I guess we just take this one step at a time? Can't feel any bad juju from here, so I'm thinking she's back to playing the shy but secretly dirty school girl. If not, pretend she's cosplaying again. Sound good?'

 _ **[I still find it strange that she gave up on revealing her true species this morning.]**_

'Meh. She had literally just woken up, no ones on their A-game in that state.' Issei reasoned with a shrug, walking up to the apartment building. The entrance was pretty generic, white walls, mailboxes, flyers for restaurants and things for sale. Grabbing the keys from his pocket, Issei opened up the mailbox for 3b, and was surprised to actually find something inside.

There was a slip of paper, smaller than average, more like a flyer you'd get out on the street. Opening the mailbox was more of a habit to seem like a normal guy than anything, he never expected anything to be placed in there. So what was the occasion? Why the sudden change?

All Issei could see on it was a few bold black lines, some sort of design that he wouldn't be able to see until he picked it up and turned it over.

But something was off about it.

The very clear feel of magic radiating from this slip of paper. There were a few possibilities of what this thing was, but only made sense with where he lived.

It had to be a summoning flyer. And Issei just so happened to have overheard Rias Gremory mentioning his name when he was in Sona's office.

'I knew she didn't want to marry the guy, but doesn't this come off as a little desperate?'

 _ **[Or she thinks that you're the one who's desperate. With how the females in your school see you, she no doubt thinks you'll try to summon a woman for sexual gratification.]**_

Picking it up, Issei turned it over to confirm his suspicions. The flowing black font was familiar, though the red Celtic design of what one might assume to be a flower gave away the person it came from. It was the Gremory rose, not that he didn't already know who would be watching him.

'I guess Sona kept our conversation away from Rias then.' If Sona had filled her in, Rias might have changed tactics. His pride was a little wounded that he was seen as desperate enough to try and contract a woman to have sex with him.

First off, there were specific people who did that, and the payment was ridiculously expensive. Courtesans of the underworld were no joke, he'd met a few. When he heard that there were a good number of men in the field, his stupid 13 yr old brain decided to negate the filter to his mouth and say that he wanted to be one.

Musashi had found it _fucking_ hilarious, and then told him that the guys were almost all gay and took the occupation because the clients were into some really weird shit.

She'd even told him about a stray that had wandered into an orgy with 3 clients and 2 devils. Some kind of cock train the humans had wanted to try.

Now Issei needed a shower. Picturing it just made him feel… gross.

 _ **[You've watched more than one video where there are 3 or more men mating with one woman, but the thought of only men disgusts you to that degree?]**_

'It's different okay! If you're gay, whatever, you do you. What Musashi told us about was a parody of what sex should be! Can you even imagine what those guys had to pay in order to get something like that?!'

He'd seen guys kiss here and there, no big deal, it just wasn't his cup of tea. But… no, he'd really rather not think about it anymore.

 _ **[I'll admit that her explanation on how such a thing was accomplished was… off-putting.]**_

And of course she just _had_ to ask on the logistics of it all after killing the stray!

'Ddraig, _please_ , I don't want to think about it anymore. I'll be good, I swear. No more.'

As Issei walked up the stairs, he had the foreboding feeling that Ddraig was going to use this against him at a later date.

After walking up a few flights of stairs, he had just about forgotten that there was a fallen angel waiting in his apartment. His keys were still in his hand and ready to use, but he gripped the handle to see if she'd bothered to lock the door.

To his surprise, she did.

'She's good.' Not that she didn't have plenty of time to think over every detail, but he doubted that many would think of something so minor like locking the door.

Pretending to be a high school girl rather than the supernatural entity she was meant that a different set of rules had to be followed. A young woman alone in a place she'd never been before? No, leaving the door unlocked would have been a bad idea and a plot hole for him to pick apart if he'd had the mind to do it.

The conversation between them still had Issei guessing on how to act. He'd seen her wings, and instead of calling her out had just played the clueless human. Chances were good that she wasn't in that tantalizing outfit anymore, a shame but he could get over it. Those mental images weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

The key in the lock clicked and turned, his door opening slowly before he pushed it to act like he was expecting to be home alone.

As soon as the door closed behind him, his over sensitive nose was damn near overloaded with magically charged pheromones. The movement of air within the school made it easy to deal with, especially considering the number of humans compared to devils. But this fallen had been in his house all day, no windows open.

She had flooded the place with a non-existent scent that ever so subtly tempted men, making them more malleable to whatever the woman wanted. His comparing her to a succubus hadn't been without reason.

Devils had the same pheromone trick to a degree, but it had to be actively used rather than a passive aspect of their species to have the same effect. It wasn't typically used though, because female devils were prone to the same pride and superiority complex as their male counterparts. Particularly in the case of Nobles.

Fallen were known to use whatever tricks they had in order to get what they wanted. The angels might be the weakest faction of the three in number and versatility, the fallen were the weakest when it came to overall global influence.

" _Welcome to your doom!"_ An old, digital, higher pitched voice was heard from his living room.

'Ah, good ole distorted Sega Genesis sound bites.' He had so many memories of late nights playing those games, created in a time where games were actually difficult instead of the mindless playthroughs so many were like now.

 _ **[Aren't you concerned that she's been snooping around?]**_

Issei scoffed. 'Not really. What's she gonna find? There's a couple of old porn mags in the closet, but I doubt she's unaware of my interests. I don't leave anything devil related in my apartment, so we should be good.'

He hadn't opened those up in a few years, what with the internet sources overflowing as they were. Issei did wonder though, if he hadn't been exposed to the supernatural world, would it bother him if she found those magazines?

Probably. If Issei had to guess, he probably would have struck out with any girl he approached. He could imagine that making the stakes higher. Wouldn't want to blow the first real chance he had with a girl now would he?

On second thought, if Sera hadn't come into his life, there was no way he'd have the time to think about dating. After whatever public school he ended up at finished for the day, he would have to go to whatever job he'd managed to lock down.

Even with that meager source of income, paying for anything beside the bare necessities would have been out of the question.

Sometimes life was cruel to those who didn't deserve it.

"Stupid fucking disembodied heads! Who the hell decided it was a good idea to make a giant living pile of dirt into a boss?" He heard Raynare comment as he walked into the living room, confirming that she was indeed playing Altered Beast on his old Sega.

She was hunched over, completely oblivious to his entrance. Tongue peeking out of her mouth, violet eyes set in determination to beat the 'living pile of dirt throwing disembodied heads'.

Glancing to the screen, Issei could see why she was having trouble and almost on her last life. This was lvl 1, so the character was turned into a werewolf once you killed the blue pigs and picked up the three orbs. The rate in which the heads fell made it difficult to move around and damage the boss at the same time, but if you stood in one of two spots this boss was a breeze.

'It's a shame she's a fallen. Beautiful, bit of a mouth, _and_ plays video games? Sign me up.'

 _ **[Don't let your guard down just yet, she still might be out to kill you.]**_ Ddraig, ever the skeptic, warned him.

'I know I know. I'll be careful, I'm just saying…'

Figuring that he should probably help her from dying, Issei decided to let her know he was home.

"Step forward two paces, the next few heads can't hit you there."

Her eyes snapped over quickly, she looked startled for a brief second before turning back to the screen and following his advice. She kept punching and finished the boss before she had to move, she must have been on that fight for a while to end it that quickly.

"If you don't like this boss, never play Conker's bad Fur Day. One of the bosses is _literally_ a massive pile of shit with sweet corn for teeth." He smiled at the scrunch of her face.

"How does something like that make it passed a review board?" She asked, pausing the game on the little cutscene between levels that consisted of only a single image.

He couldn't help but notice subtle things about her right now. She'd gone with the younger version that she'd initially met him in. As much as he liked the things that Sera's pigtails allowed for when they were in the heat of the moment, Issei preferred when she let her hair down, like how his visitor's was.

The way her bangs slightly obscured an eye from time to time gave an air of… Mystery wasn't the right word, but it made him want to brush it away to see those eyes in full view.

Issei was having a hard time _not_ letting his eyes settle on her chest, though he figured she was hoping that's where his focus would be. Her red school jacket was in buttoned, letting it slide from her front and settle to her sides.

'Hard for it to cover anything on the front of her body with her tits being that big.'

Seriously, a girl of that stature had no right to be equipped with such traffic stopping knockers. If she were human he'd have thought them fake. The white button down shirt underneath had the top two buttons undone, letting a decent amount of cleavage to be shown, only enough to make it clear that she was gifted but not be so obvious that she was trying to divert his attention.

The blue polish on her nails was a nice touch.

The fallen, Yuuma he believed Ddraig said her name was, leaned back on the couch to stretch. A deadly maneuver. Her legs were almost fully bared thanks to the couch making her skirt ride up to nearly NSFW levels. As her ankle rotated he noticed her toes had been painted as well.

Her arms stretched over and behind her head, a more exaggerated move than this morning. Head tilted back, chest thrust out seemingly as a mere consequence and not on purpose, _Yuuma_ made that same blissful moaning sound from that morning.

He couldn't let himself get _too_ distracted.

"The whole game is kinda quirky. I mean, the main character is an alcoholic squirrel. At one point you fight Nazi Teddy Bears. One of the few games on the Nintendo 64 with a mature rating."

Talking about games was a decent way to keep his mind from picturing the things he'd like to do to make her stretch and moan like that.

'Fuckin' hell, that voice is the stuff of dreams.' The pitch of her disguised voice slipped when she did it, losing the peppy youth and coming out in a more mature, almost raspy and sultry tone.

Her head returned upright, though she stayed in the leaning back position and crossed one leg over the other. A flash of white made his eyes twitch in that direction.

The one eye that was half open clearly saw it too, based on that tiny smirk and shimmer in her violet eyes as they both opened.

"Sounds unique if nothing else." The leg crossed over started to bounce lazily, long smooth legs highlighted by the sun peering through the window. It seemed like fate was trying to fuck with him right now.

Issei was at a loss of where to take the conversation from here, there were too many unknown's. Should he comment on the state he saw her in this morning? Or the fact that she was still in his home? How about the obvious sign that she hadn't gone to school despite how she was making making herself look? If she had gone to school, she must have left his apartment unlocked, which wasn't cool.

"Hey Issei?" His eyes refocused and saw her looking directly at him, lightly biting the left corner of her bottom lip.

"Something on your mind Yuuma?" She blinked at his response, an easy smile coming to her face.

"So you do remember my name." Well not really, a lot of the bridge was still a blank. Thankfully Ddraig had been able to fill him in.

"I wasn't in the best state on the bridge, but I think all the important parts came back to me."

Yuuma quirked an eyebrow at him. "And this morning?"

Issei shrugged.

"I'm not much of a morning person, what little filter I do have is nonexistent until about 10am."

Her smile turned back into that smirk, a lopsided thing that he thoroughly enjoyed seeing.

"So those things you said were just the unrestrained truth as you see it?"

Should he be embarrassed about saying some of those things? Nah, she was a fallen and was probably used to all sorts of compliments, pickup lines or just downright dirty talk.

"Yup. Not a fan of lying, don't see the point. Hasn't helped my reputation at school unfortunately."

She chuckled. "That and the peeping with your friends."

"Say what you will about them, those two are the most honest guys in that place. Though they might want to consider hiring a PR guy, at this rate they'll die alone from the news spreading beyond the boundaries of Kuoh and killing any chances they have."

Even then, if Matsuda and Motohama didn't start easing up on the lechery the chances of being single and a virgin forever were pretty high. Unless, of course, they lowered themselves to girls even freakier than Aika Kiryuu.

'Not possible. No such woman exists.'

But desperate situations did call for desperate measures.

"Duly noted. I'll be sure to wear a turtle neck and a parka if I ever meet them. Anyways, wanna go out?"

Issei had to admit that he liked hearing that, even if he knew it was likely false. Meeting his friends meant they could be together for a least a little while, a relationship instead of just a booty call. It sounded nice, normal.

Normal hadn't been something that Issei could call any part of his life in so long. The last time was probably him and Irina playing in the park as kids or having sleep-overs.

"Didn't we establish this on the bridge?" Issei knew what she meant, but he was enjoying this conversation. Talking to her was easy, even if all of her part was likely just a facade.

She stood from the couch, the few steps she had to take towards him were with a sway to her hips, making her short skirt swish from side to side.

"We did." When she reached him, standing nearly toe to toe, her hands slid into his jacket and linked around his back. Issei had to look down to meet her eyes. He wasn't a very tall guy, but with her so close he felt like he was.

"But what I meant, was for us to head into town. Get to know each other, have some fun, grab some food. Y'know, date stuff." She widened her eyes to make herself look innocent, even though this position was nothing of the sort.

Her hips were pressed into him, no doubt she did that on purpose. Her head had to tilt back some for her to look up to him, which meant he could practically see straight down her shirt. The view was appreciated.

"Sure. Lemme just set this stuff down and we'll head out."

 **-LineBreak-**

The date was going pretty well. Raynare honestly hadn't expected much with how she just sprang it on him.

They walked through the town, popping into a few shops here and there. Issei surprised her when he took the initiative to hold her hand, but she pushed it further by lacing their fingers together.

He was warm, not in a nervous and sweaty kind of way, more like his body ran slightly warmer than normal. It was a calming feeling really, like sitting before a fireplace on a cold night when the heat didn't beat off the chill.

She hadn't been sure how things would go when he got back from school, and had been a little miffed when he showed up significantly later than she'd expected. He'd told her while walking around that he'd been just a few seconds too late on entering the school grounds, and so the student council president had given him detention and said they'd be watching him.

Raynare could tell that meant more than just watching his attendance and habits. The devils were watching him more closely now. That was apparent by the summoning flyer she saw him place on the counter with his bag.

That devil she met, what did she say her name was? Sarah? Stella? Skyler? Samantha? Something with an S she was sure. Raynare wasn't too concerned about her, not with the minimal power she could feel. The woman probably came from one of the more progressive and lower standing families if she was shacking up with a human like Issei.

" _Gold. Pure, brilliant gold."_ The she-devil had said.

Issei was a pervert, there was no denying that. But that devil had obviously seen something that nobody else had, and Raynare was starting to catch a glimpse of it.

While they were in one of the shops, a wide variety of clothes, media and jewelry on display, Issei had slipped away for a few minutes while she looked at shoes. She hadn't questioned why he walked off, saying he'd be back in a few minutes. He probably just had to go take a piss or something.

She was wrong.

Issei had come back with a necklace on a simple silver chain. It wasn't anything extravagant, but the diamond shaped gem in the center was pretty, the color of indigo just between blue and purple.

"I can't let you do that Issei, I'm sure you need that money for something more important." She'd said, trying to play it off.

Raynare had been touched that he'd even offered, more so that it was something more than just a stuffed animal or a scrunchy or something simple like that. Plus the necklace was pretty and tasteful. She didn't know the name of the gem or how much it might have cost.

"That's a shame, I thought you might like it. It goes well with your eyes, and if you like blue it goes with that too." He'd said glancing from her hands, to her eyes and back to the necklace in his hand.

Her heart had done something funny then, a twist or a turn she wasn't sure. No one had ever bought her anything without it being either just a show of wealth or the complete opposite of something she'd actually like.

"It's beautiful, but I just can't. Return it, save the money." She'd never in her life refused a gift. But the honest gesture was more than enough to make her smile stupidly.

"Hmmm…." Issei looked right into her eyes for a good ten seconds before turning to the man at the register.

"What's the return policy for jewelry?" She didn't know why, but him admitting defeat and submitting to her request actually hurt a little bit. Why couldn't he just push her a little more into taking the damn thing?! She wanted it!

The old man turned from where he was stocking some of the useless items stores put up at the register for a quick add on sale.

"14 days with a receipt."

The man must have seen her expression by the disapproving look he gave Issei.

"Oh, well then." Issei reached into his pocket, taking out the unnecessarily long proof of purchase.

He folded it once, twice, three times before he looked at her with a smile.

And ripped it to shreds.

She heard the employee snort out a laugh, but Raynare didn't care.

Why was it so fucking hard to breathe right now?!

"Damn. I don't have the paperwork to get my money back." He held up the necklace again.

It felt like she developed a case of vertigo, an almost out of body experience from a strange giddy feeling spreading through her body.

She relented with the most honest smile she'd felt in decades, turning around and pulling her hair away to offer her neck. In the direction she was now facing, Raynare could see more than one young woman looking on with absolute jealousy. Two of them seemed to be with their boyfriends, who looked away and tried to pretend that they hadn't just been upstaged in a major way.

'That's right, mine's better than yours.'

The urge to kiss him till they were both blue in the face almost took over. But she couldn't. Getting too attached wasn't something she could allow, already Issei was making that pretty damn hard.

She'd never expected to enjoy this, but she was. Issei was interesting, a puzzle she wanted to unravel to its naked core.

'He keeps this up and I just might, rules be damned.' She wasn't supposed to actually _feel_ for her targets. But the only beings that could lie well enough for her to pick up on it were people whose name she'd recognize, or Azazel would have been able to pick up on a supernatural signal of some kind from him.

Since that hadn't happened, she felt it was safe to assume that wasn't trying to lull her into a sense of security just to ambush her later.

Raynare thanked him quietly, the blush on her cheeks not at all faked, and they left the store hand in hand once more.

They were both getting hungry and wanted to grab some dinner somewhere, but Issei had them taking a detour. He said there was something he wanted her to see first.

The sun had almost been completely gone by the time she heard the sound of water, walking through a nice path in the forest.

When the trees and bushes and plants gave way, she was met with the sight of a calm lake reflecting the changing colors of the sky. Further out in the still waters, the orange left in the sky was reflected, making it look like the sun was directly in front of them.

Above that, the deep orange faded into blue, darker and darker until it was the same color as the necklace adorned on her skin.

"Heaven's evening daze." Issei said, getting her to turn her head and tilt it ever so slightly. What was he talking about?

They had talked about a vast number of things as they walked through town, but Issei had never mentioned anything that made her think he was into landscapes or nature.

Hobbies, favorite foods, music, games, movies, sports, friends… they'd covered a large number of topics.

"Your name." He smiled towards her before looking out over the water again.

"The first thing I remember about meeting you, was how the sun was setting right behind you. Orange, black and purple were the only things my brain could really recognize for a moment. I remember thinking the colors were beautiful."

'Stupid blushing face… Stop it!' She yelled in her head, but she couldn't look away from how the sun was being cast on his eyes. They almost looked like gold right now.

"I used to come down here a lot as a kid, a lot of memories." He scratched at the back of his head with the hand that wasn't being squeezed tightly by her, a smile at his lips.

"I don't think a scene like this will ever be associated with anything other than you now-"

He needed to stop talking. If he didn't shut up right now, or say something absurdly stupid then she might have to do something she would immediately regret.

Like leaving.

How was it possible for him to go from infuriating her to having her heart beat like it was being kicked by a death metal drummer?

 _Gold. Pure, brilliant gold._

That's how.

He was too good for her, someone who'd killed just to get some fucking recognition. Someone who lied as easily as she took a breath.

"- I don't want to say this, but I think it has to be said." She didn't like the way his face shifted.

It felt like an eternity for him to take a breath and prepare whatever it was that he had to say.

"I'm not the kind of guy that gets the girl." He gave a sad chuckle then. "I bet if pretty much anyone from my school saw us, they'd think I blackmailed you into just being within arms reach of me."

He let go of her hand, and it felt like she'd been taken from the fireplace and dumped into a pool of ice water.

'What's happening?'

It was only then that she noticed that they were completely alone, not a soul standing on the water's edge or even within the distance of her superior hearing. Completely isolated from the world around them and bathed in the beautiful light of the setting sun.

"We just met yesterday… And this morning didn't get off to a great start."

Raynare couldn't argue the point, but for some reason she really wanted to.

Her eyes darted around again, almost desperate for something else to look at.

"There's so much we don't know about each other." That statement almost seemed like it he was referring to her, which wasn't without cause. It set her more on edge.

Sand, grass, trees, water, and the light of the sun were all that surrounded them. If she were her old self, this would have been the perfect place to kill him in that search for glory.

And it had all been orchestrated by _him._

"If this is a trick, some sort of dare or prank or something…"

'Mission.' Her mind added without consent.

"You've won. You can go back and say that you got the Pervy loser to like _you_ in 24 hours." The emphasis stuck out to her.

Another smile bloomed over her face before it quickly fell.

Issei had known something was off about this situation the _entire time_. She should have taken those predatory glances of his surroundings more seriously, especially after he'd picked her apart that morning.

Had he truly left her alone in his apartment on purpose, or was it some ploy to make turn tail?

"That shy voice I heard on the bridge… That's not _you._ I'm as sure of that as I am of anything." She'd fucked up. Raynare had royally fucked up.

"Confident, determined, a little hotheaded if how you glared at me this morning is anything to go by, and maybe even a touch of a romantic… _that's you._ "

He faced her then, his smile becoming uneasy, guarded. Raynare felt it too. She didn't know what was happening, what to do, or how to think.

"And I like _you_." He took two steps back from her, the distance too much in her mind. She wanted him to come back.

"Issei.. I.." Her mouth was dry and didn't seem capable of forming whole sentences.

"It wouldn't be the first time, but you certainly had me hooked a lot quicker than the others."

Her nostrils flared and a red hot rage attempted to burn throughout her entire being...

'Who hurt you Issei? I'll skewer them!' ...Before she realized where her mind was going and knew that things had already gone too far.

"You can sneer and mock to your hearts content. And then we can walk away, go back to our daily lives."

She _should_ say that this was all a ruse, just like he seemed to suspect. She had her answers for Azazel. Issei wasn't endangering anyone, nor was he recruitment material. There was no gain for the fallen here.

He was giving her a chance to walk away without any questions asked. It was the right choice.

But…

Even thinking about doing that was… painful.

Raynare idly touched the necklace he'd given her, her mind racing through a thousand things.

Did he know that woman was a devil? If so, how would he feel about her being a fallen angel? The two weren't in an official relationship, otherwise that blue haired woman would have said so, even if she gave her acceptance of them seeing each other.

Not that it was likely to happen if that were the case. The woman would have probably thought she was in his apartment to get to her through a third party.

'Fuck it.'

It might be the wrong choice, it might end quickly and painfully, but it was hers to make.

Raynare closed those few steps between them, her hands reaching up to take hold of each side of his face. The guarded expression left him.

"We all have our secrets, and reasons for them, but I'm not here to hurt you."

She gave him no time to think or respond before pulling him down slightly while edging up on her toes to kiss him.

It was light, hardly more than a glance of her lips against his. She held it for a few seconds, wanting to just sink into the feeling he gave her.

Raynare had known Azazel for so long, lusted after him for almost the entire time. But _never_ in those years of yearning had she imagined that just a kiss could bring such warmth to her heart, a lightness to her body.

Warmth turned into a near blaze when she felt his hands slide against her hip and latch on, pulling her into him and deepening the kiss. She wanted to fight back, take control of it.

But giving in just felt… _Good._

 **-LineBreak-**

Issei held the door open for her, gesturing with a hand for her to enter first.

Yuuma smirked as she walked by.

"I'm starting to think you're only opening doors for me to stare at my ass."

He smiled unrepentantly.

"Chivalry has to have _some_ perks."

That earned him a chuckle, and an even more exaggerated sway of her hips just for his viewing pleasure.

 _ **[You're playing with fire, Partner.]**_

'I like her Ddraig. I gave her every chance to kill me or recruit me. I couldn't have been more open about it without disregarding Sera's orders.'

Yuuma told the host of the restaurant they wanted a booth for two, and motioned for him to follow.

 _ **[And how do you expect this information to be received by your king?]**_

'I can't have her Ddraig. At least, not in the way I want. A night together here and there is all we'll ever be. Don't I deserve a chance to be happy?'

 _ **[That doesn't answer my question.]**_

Issei sat in the booth located in a near hidden corner of the establishment, a good place for a couple wanting some privacy.

'I'll figure something out.'

 _ **[You're a devil. A secret like this WILL come out. I do not foresee it being a pleasant experience either.]**_

'Maybe I can use some sort of old school peace treaty logic. Y'know, like some Middle Ages shit. If things get to that point without being found out, we can bring peace through marriage to the table.'

 _ **[I highly doubt this will stay in the dark for that long. Things have been picking up lately, I've told you time and time again what that means.]**_

Issei didn't want to listen anymore. He just wanted to watch as Yuuma's eyes scanned the menu. The side of her he saw today sucked him in.

The chance he gave her today was as much for her as it was for him.

The swearing, the banter, the way she was obviously trying to keep herself from blushing and being affected by him… it was all just… captivating.

He had no doubt in his mind that her name wasn't Yuuma. It was too perfect. Meeting a girl on a bridge during sunset, and her name just happens to represent that very thing? No… not a chance in hell.

But the girl he saw today… that was real.

She said it herself. They all had their secrets. It was just a matter of time for them to be opened up.


	5. Chapter 5

"Who would have thought that one of the trio would have an aversion of any kind when it came to sex?"

On any other day, Issei would have been more than just _a little_ annoyed that Aika was bugging him yet again. But last night had gone well, so his temper was more easily controlled.

The cafeteria had the unfortunate effect of being rather empty for some reason, which meant that each conversation could be heard if any passerby decided to pay attention.

"A wonder of the world, I'm sure. Why are you here?" He sat back in the generic chair with his arms crossed. With the way the new building was constructed, voices echoed all the way from one corner to the other if conversation dropped.

In his experience, a conversation with Aika Kiryuu always had that one point where something was said that you _really_ didn't want anyone else to hear. The classroom was the safest place to talk to her.

 _ **[Tonight, your dreams will be unpleasant.]**_

Issei felt his hand twitch from the not so veiled threat.

'C'mon man! I was minding my own business!'

He knew that wouldn't help. Ddraig would have preferred that Issei get up and walk away, not caring of how that would look and the way that Aika was likely to just follow and bug him even more if he did so.

 _ **[And you should have kept on minding your own business.]**_ Just as soon as the big bad dragon had invaded his mind, he left. Issei could only feel a huge amount of dread of what his _partner_ would put him through.

"What, am I not allowed to have lunch with a classmate?" Aika asked, a smirk on her face that went completely against the innocent tone she used.

There was an angle here that she was working, Issei was sure of it. Problem is… what the fuck is it?

"Allowed, sure, but other than yesterday the only time we've talked is when you go all high and mighty on the three of us."

Aika gave a single chuckle, like there was a game being played, only some of the players weren't aware it had started. From someone with a mind like hers, that was a dangerous thing indeed.

"You make me sound like some repeating villian that has a new monologue for each encounter."

Issei shrugged, noticing the change in volume of the room. It dipped significantly for about 2 seconds before picking back up, though there was a noticeable whisper to each of the other conversations happening.

"More of an act 2 boss. The kind that pops up a lot, but only stays around until they're dealt a certain amount of damage before running off to annoy you another day."

Her brow raised as she too crossed her arms, Issei didn't even have to look to know the effect it would have had. He'd checked out the girls in his class enough. The only thing that set Aika apart from the general public were her eyes, those piercing hazel orbs behind rimmed glasses that stared into your soul.

Her body was nothing special all things considered. Not _bad_ , but nothing that made her stand out. No, it was the way she made you feel like all your secrets would be exposed if she looked at you long enough, the kind that you never wanted anyone knowing about.

She couldn't hold a conversation with the more innocent students of kuoh for fear of reducing their minds to sexually fueled mush with all of her innuendo's, but those with at least a basic tolerance were at risk.

"And what would the act 1 boss look like then?" She asked, that unnerving look placed on him.

"If me, Matsuda and Motohama are the characters, then I imagine it's a diverging story with separate origin chapters."

"Sounds tragic and overly complicated."

"Meh, probably. gives the game more replay value though."

He should really cut this conversation short somehow, otherwise Ddraig might make his dreams into something that made watching a twilight marathon seem like a pleasant sunday afternoon. Those movies are a horrible, angsty creation that serve no purpose.

Vampires that _sparkle?!_ C'mon, that's just wrong.

"Why do I get the feeling that you just thought of something that would have a horde of angry girls chasing you with torches and pitchforks?" There was a dangerous twitch on her brow as Issei came back from his reminiscing on how all media was not equal in its value to society.

"If I ran off a cliff and those lemmings followed me, the world would be a better place." Obviously he would be just fine. Issei understood that female fanservice was just as necessary, but _that_ was an abomination. Tall and heavily muscled poets with that 5 o'clock shadow perpetually on their face, that kind of thing Issei understood and accepted. Not that 'woe is me, I live forever and shine like diamonds in the sun. I'm cursed with incredible speed and strength, but i'm miserable because no one understands me' bullshit. Oh, and he's rich because...stereotypes.

A staring contest had begun, in one corner there was the known lecher from the east side of town. Stunt double for the one of the more frequent antagonists on Sera's show, kama sutra connoisseur, Issei Hyoudou.

In the other corner, attempting to glare through bone and brain matter, the meat measuring master, Aika Kiryuu.

"May I sit with the two of you?"

Ah, a third contender enters the match!

Issei broke eye contact with his bespectacled opponent to see the owner of this familiar and far too polite voice. Blonde hair that hung around his head and face, Grey eyes with just a hint of blue and that mole under one eye that Issei had honestly thought to be fake for the longest time. There was a friendly, disarming smile on his face, one that Issei recognized.

From the corner of his eye, Issei was able to spot Aika eyeing the guy up like he was both a sculpture of marble and a juicy steak, the lightest hints of a blush on her cheeks.

Yuuto Kiba, 2nd year student and knight of Rias Gremory. He was built like your typical knight, slender, sure-footed, not an ounce of fat or much muscle on his frame to keep lean and quick.

Aika's blush and smile faded when her eyes came to his waist. There was no need to guess on why her mood had just deflated.

'Heh, this is what they get for putting him up on that damn pedestal.'

She must have seen the smirk growing on his face, because she glared at him with renewed intensity. He'd have to cover his junk with a book or his bag or something. Inconspicuously of course, he couldn't have her aware that he suspected her to measure him out of spite.

'Not that i'm ashamed, but it's just weird that she can do that without some sort of magic.'

Motohama's ability was different. His friend had taken all the types of bras into consideration when he gave his assessments.

"I _would_ say no on the grounds of not fraternizing with the enemy, but that would make me a hypocrite given current company." Issei gestured to the open seat right in front of the guy. There was no way this _wasn't_ going to get back to Matsuda and Motohama, and they were certainly going to rant about it.

Taking the seat graciously, Kiba placed his tray on the table with a book beside it. Did this guy intend on reading in the cafeteria after asking to sit with them? Weird but whatever.

"You never answered my question on why you decided on sitting with me Kiryuu." Issei asked, taking a bite of his own food. The stuff they had here was alright, better than what he assumed most schools would offer, but then again this place was run by extremely wealthy devils. To them, this was probably gruel hardly even suitable for human consumption.

"Our conversation yesterday was entertaining and-"

Issei raised a hand and interjected "We are _not_ going there again. You ruined it with that horrible excuse for a joke."

"All I was gonna say, was that I am surprised how much it got to you. Never thought the line in the sand would be so deep."

Unfortunately, Kiba looked all too interested in the conversation. Issei had nothing against the guy personally, only that his looks and demeanor attracted the attention of pretty much any girl he came across while Issei was left to wallow in the mud.

Aside from the fact that the joke Aika told where things had gone too far being about a kid, there was another aspect to it.

Issei was aware of how Kiba had ended up becoming a devil, so bringing up a priest joke probably wouldn't go over well. On a more personal note, Issei's first real friend had been from a _very_ religious family. Like… the kind that were probably exorcists and were aware of how the world really worked.

He hadn't seen or heard from her since she moved away all those years ago, but the thought of her being abused by some of the sick fucks in the church made bile rise in his throat. The chances of them meeting and being on good terms were extremely small, but he'd like to entertain the hopeful thought.

"Well now you know." Issei turned towards the new person at the table to make sure the conversation didn't continue down the line he knew she'd bring it.

"So, Kiba, don't you normally eat with the rest of your club? What is it again, the occupational research club?" Around the school, everyone always referred to it as _The ORC_ , so his intentional blunder was understandable. Even more so because some of the more popular and voted to be successful students were a part of it.

"The president and vice president had something to take care of off campus, and Koneko isn't much for conversation so I decided to eat here today." There was the smallest twitch in his lips, something that Aika had certainly not seen.

'Hmmm… something devil related then. Can't be good news either soooooo, something to do with Riser?' Issei had seen Kiba interact with other students too many times to know that his little slip in expression wasn't of no consequence. Sirzechs had also boasted about how his sisters' group were like a family, protective and loving and always there to help each other.

With him receiving that flyer yesterday, Issei had been expecting some sort of encounter with the redhead sooner or later. This wasn't exactly how he'd envisioned first contact being made though.

"Gotcha. Must suck having your friends bail like that, reasonable excuse or not." He was going to keep the subject matter on mundane things.

"No it's alright, we don't have to be around each other all the time. Sometimes a change for a day or two is nice."

Aika snorted. "Right, like you'd rather be here than with two of the hottest girls on campus."

It was hard to argue with that logic.

"They might be beautiful, but Rias and Akeno are also very kind. They have helped me out a lot since I met them." Yea, the whole making sure he didn't die bit was pretty helpful.

Since Aika had taken the plunge, Issei decided he'd join in the good natured ribbing.

"Or he just has a kink that none of them fill." After he spoke, Aika smiled the same way as she did when she was about to tear down him and his friends.

"Kink?" Kiba questioned. He was ignored.

"That would explain why none of the girls here have been able to lock him down for even a single date."

Maybe together, they could get Kiba to decide that a tactical retreat was in order. Ddraig was already going to torture him tonight, so what's the harm?

"Wonder what it is? Damsel in distress maybe?" Issei noticed Kiba's eyes glaze over, likely zoning out of the conversation so his friendly veneer didn't crack.

"Nah, too obvious. Plus that box was crossed out last year."

Right, the sports day thing when one of the runners twisted her ankle. Kiba assisted her to the infirmary, said injured runner having stars in her eyes until the faded from view. Nothing seemed to have come from that.

"Maybe he's into the power play stuff. Y'know, like a servant or butler thing?" Kiba seemed to want a redirection of the topic after that.

"Speaking of dating, Issei, I heard you found yourself a new lady love. Congratulations." His smile _seemed_ genuine then, but Issei had a hard time not tensing from the quick redirection. Yuuma had only been detected by Issei because he used some techniques that were rather unique to a devil. Koneko _should_ have been able to notice, but the girl all but shunned her true nature.

The little rook would have had to get almost nose to nose with the fallen to sniff it out.

"Say what now?" Aika turned her eyes to him, eyebrow raised and a hungry look in her eyes. It was well known around his classmates that Aika loved gossip. Any sort of juicy info was likely to come to her ears before almost anyone else in the school. He wasn't sure how she did it.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have a girlfriend." Technically true. While the date yesterday had ended up going better than expected, he and Yuuma had agreed to just see where things went. Though the kissing wasn't something that a high school student would generally associate with 'just friends'.

As happy as he was in getting to know her, Issei wasn't fool enough to think that she was staying in Kuoh for much longer. Didn't mean he'd like to see her go though…

He mentally sighed. He still hadn't told Sera.

"Strange, I heard that you were out on a date with quite the beauty yesterday." Issei really wanted to narrow his eyes and tell Kiba to fuck off. Kiba was using Koneko shadowing him as a source of rumored information. It was a cheap trick and Issei didn't see what the other guy wanted to get out of it.

"Is that why you didn't go with the nitwits yesterday?"Aika had a hand to her chin, eyeing him in a way he didn't like.

"I had a prior engagement, if you recall."

"Yeah, but the sports clubs weren't done with practice for like another 20 minutes after you finished. Plenty of time to meet up with them." He was actually more surprised that she didn't comment on her own innuendo attempt then the fact that she knew what time the showers would have been in use.

Actually….

"Hold on a second. How do you know where they were going?" That was a very important question with a potentially disastrous end for his two buddies. Granted it was probably a bad idea to be peeking directly into the showers to begin with, but he couldn't refute the urge wasn't something most men would feel. They just had less self control.

"I'll tell you about mine, if you tell me about yours." That one was closer to something suggestive. She knew it too, judging by the wiggle of her brow.

He had to make a quick decision on where to go from here. Having more people snooping around his life wasn't exactly something he wanted, and Aika was the persistent type. The reputation of a pervert gave him a sort of cover, made others less likely to care about anything he did unless he was caught peeping.

Issei was left with the nagging thought that Ddraig had warned him about this. The red and white dragon emperors were never allowed a peaceful and pleasant life. There was always some idiot that fancied themselves the next big thing and wanted to take out the wielder of a legendary sacred gear.

On more than one occasion, Ddraig had said that Issei was experiencing a length of relative peace none of his hosts had ever achieved once the gear was activated to the state his was. If they had managed to unlock balance breaker, it seemed like all they were able to do was fight. Issei wondered how many of those were out of self-defense rather than losing control.

As for whether or not to tell Aika anything, he wasn't sure. There wasn't much he _could_ say definitively, and Issei wasn't a fan of speculation. So if he didn't know anything for sure, he wouldn't say it at all. The only part that didn't apply to was her name.

"Shame I don't have anything to tell you then." Was his answer.

It was too much of a risk, one that he wasn't willing to take. One slip of the tongue, one sighting, that's all it would take to unravel the hard work of staying hidden. Matsuda and Motohama were his friends, but Sera and the others were like family.

And he had so little in terms of family.

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch and the few minutes before classes restarted.

Issei tried to tell himself that it had nothing to do with the budding thing he had with a fallen angel.

He wasn't entirely successful.

 **-LineBreak-**

Rias drummed her fingers on the desk, the only outlet she felt was appropriate for her frustration at the moment. If she were more inclined to her mother's side, she may have started breaking things.

But Venerana was quite thorough in her teachings. Calm, collected, thoughtful. That's how she should be, even in the face of danger. The power of destruction made their bodies a conduit for demise, it had to be kept under control, especially since she was living in the human world.

Rias couldn't claim to be completely without her moments of rage, but no one in her family would believe such a statement anyway, so why bother?

Taking the day off from school had been a poor choice on her part. She should have demanded they accommodate her own schedule and held the meeting in the late afternoon.

Perhaps if she had, Koneko could have given her a report on the happenings of her prospective peerage member that morning. Maybe there would have been something in her findings to lift her mood.

Issei Hyoudou.

At first glance, there was nothing special about him. For over a year she hadn't noticed a thing. But one day a little over a month ago, there was just this… _feeling_ , that someone around her was holding something spectacular.

Rias couldn't describe it any more accurately than that, and it certainly didn't fit any of the sensations she'd felt before when dealing with other supernatural entities or sacred gears. Even Gasper, her sealed mutation bishop, had given a more directed feeling than this.

It had taken her almost two weeks to narrow down where it was coming from. It felt like a gentle tug, similar to when Millicas had been a baby and pulled on her pinky finger. So light, but so secure.

Both her brother and parents acknowledged that she had a gift when it came to finding people. Akeno, the daughter of a fallen angel cadre. Kiba, an orphan of the church that had been set for 'disposal'. And Gasper, a dhampir with the ability to stop time.

But this one was different.

Having not felt it last year, Rias thought that perhaps one of the first year students was the culprit. Hall after hall, class after class she searched, and nothing. There hadn't been any new 2nd years, so she thought to check the third years, because there had been a number of them that were new to Kuoh.

Kiyome was the only one to set off that nonhuman feeling, but Rias knew that the Tennis captain was a beast tamer. They had talked about it openly.

A few days later, having just spoken to her sister-in-law, Rias felt it again. School had been let out already, so she was free to wander the grounds. She was confused when she was led near the kendo club, most were third years and already vetted.

But then the feeling started to flee.

She'd followed it, walking along the tree line and keeping out of view. The edge of the building gave way to three boys, and Rias had only known their reputation at the time, she couldn't place a name to a face.

One bald with more… Neanderthal type features. One with longer black hair and glasses. And one with somewhat baggy clothes, brown shaggy hair and a feeling of ease about him. Rias didn't know which one was the culprit, but she had decided to find out.

The perverted trio, getting the names was easy. Akeno kept her ears open and had even interacted with the one wearing glasses before, though all he did was grin and stare at her chest apparently. Her queen admitted that she was looking forward to an opportunity to fluster him beyond belief.

Sirzechs had contacted her one night, asking how things were going and if she was enjoying her time in Japan. She'd said yes, and that she was certain there was a potentially powerful person nearby that she could recruit.

It was the very next day that she saw him without his two friends, and that feeling pulsed like a separate heartbeat within her. Walking by him on the staircase had been somewhat difficult, because all she wanted to do was stare and try to figure him out. Color her surprised when he didn't even notice her walking by.

That was strange, because the humans in her school _always_ turned an eye when she was around.

He had looked different then, more… assured.

It wasn't a perfect way to describe what she saw, but it was the closest she could come to. There was _something_ in that gaze, more than what he displayed for everyone else. She was positive of that.

As for the specifics, she hadn't a clue.

So Rias had watched, trying to put the puzzle pieces together with what she knew. It wasn't much admittedly, but a vague idea had formed.

That feeling she got from him must have been from his sacred gear activating, and that look she'd seen only twice now was from a boost in confidence from the changes a mystical tool would give any normal human.

Strange thing was, she never noticed any power sources from within the town to suggest her theory was correct. Until she heard the report from Koneko, that was the best she could come up with.

"Is the meeting still bothering you, or is it something else?" Akeno asked asked she walked with practised ease, the tray of tea and snacks not wavering in the slightest.

While Rias heard, she didn't answer, merely humming indecisively. In truth, it was _all_ plaguing her mind in one way or another. The clink of the tray of her desk diverted aquamarine eyes from that one swirl of grains in the wood.

"A rating game is the only way to get out of this Akeno, and we don't have the power to win. If it were all of us against Riser himself, then maybe. We might be stronger than the average for our age, but a full peerage with a man that can regenerate near endlessly…"

Rias trailed off as the cup and saucer were placed in front of her, catching the troubled look on the face of her best friend. Her _Fiance_ had been rather blatant with his stares during the meeting, and it made Rias wish she had the same strength as her mother of brother.

Wiping that look from his face would have been a very enjoyable act.

There were rumors floating around that Riser had sex with each girl in his peerage except Ravel. No one had come out and just asked the man about it, partially because nobody really cared what one did with their peerage, and partially because many were likely envious of him for it. Devils did not enjoy being shown that someone had it better.

Pride was such a fickle thing.

While a member of the Gremory family couldn't outright order Rias' peerage around, marriage was… different. What was his would become hers, and what was hers would become his. A merging of assets.

Unfortunately for Rias, Akeno, Koneko and Kiba, a peerage was considered an asset by devil law. A possession, property.

'And people wonder why so many high-class marry their queen.' She thought bitterly.

The queen was the closest confidant, the second in command, the one always by their side. It seemed a natural progression in her mind, having so many with queens of the opposite gender getting married to the king.

On the more selfish side of things, it also kept power more in the hands of the king. They would not be expected to share the peerage with anyone else.

"If only Lord Lucifer were able to…" Akeno started, something almost resembling a grimace on her face.

"He can't show favoritism. As much as i'd like to be rid of this whole ordeal, my brother can't do anything without causing more trouble." Not that she'd particularly like for that to be held over her head anyway.

If Sirzechs did something like that, who knew how he'd leverage it on Rias later. A plethora of embarrassing ways for sure.

Akeno looked like she was about to say something more, but the door opened and in walked the other two members before that could happen. The dark-haired beauty seemed unwilling to say her previously planned thought with the new onlookers.

The blank look on Koneko's face betrayed nothing, but the smile on Kiba looked a little strained.

"Hello you two, how was school?" Rias asked, sounding and feeling more like a parental figure than a classmate or someone of similar age.

"Nothing new." Koneko spoke in her typical quiet voice, no discernable tone to be inferred. Her strides to the couch were purposeful, almost like she had something that really needed to be said.

"Quite pleasant, if a bit strange for a moment, thank you president." Kiba on the other hand, was easier to read since any differentiation was obvious to the older girls. From what they could tell just by looking, Kiba seemed to have found himself in a situation that unnerved him. Not greatly, but just enough to show.

As Akeno went about serving tea and snacks, which Koneko supplemented from her own vast supply, Rias watched her two servants carefully, wondering who to call upon first. The report she might receive from Koneko had the possibility to derail any thoughts on what Kiba may have experienced, so her priority should be the knight of the group.

"Is something bothering you Kiba? You seem… Tense." Perhaps that wasn't the best description, but nothing else felt like it would be close enough. Her knight didn't look particularly stressed, but there was something on his mind.

The smile he graced her with was easier, thankful. But still he shook his head while expecting to hear of some wrong done to him, light as it may have been.

"Not so much as anything being wrong, I was merely party to a conversation with Issei Hyoudou and Aika Kiryuu during lunch. It was… Well, it caught me by surprise to be honest."

With such a simple statement he had captured the entirety of her attention.

"Did you now?" She tried to keep her voice level, calm, only slightly interested, being successful to a degree that only Akeno seemed to pick up on her true feelings on the matter. The Serene queen seemed amused at her interest in such an unusual target.

"And what transpired during this conversation that seems to have rattled you?"

Her question was answered by a recount of what happened during lunch.

One thing in particular seemed odd to Rias, but first she needed details from Koneko. Turning to the small rook, who was nibbling on her usual candies, the heiress questioned.

"What can you tell me of last night Koneko?"

The rook hesitated, torn between answering her king and the bite of sweet bliss centimeters from her mouth. Duty won out, in the end.

"He was… mostly normal, almost made me think he had an identical twin until after they came out from the woods." While both Rias and Akeno rose an eyebrow, the glint in the queens eyes clearly suspected something of a more adult nature happened.

"You lost sight of them?" Koneko nodded to her senior.

"Too dense to keep silent and out of view." A rook she may be, but Koneko had her species and smaller frame to her advantage. The rook was light on her feet, a whisper on the wind when she wanted to be. If Koneko didn't think she could stay out of sight and out of mind, then that's how it was.

"How long were they there?" Rias wasn't even sure why she wanted to know.

Koneko shrugged. "Ten minutes or so." Then her face scrunched in something like wary confusion.

"What is it?"

The thing on her mind was just speculation, that being the reason she didn't mention it to Kiba.

"The girl… changed, when they walked out."

Confident? No, that wasn't it. From the moment they walked out of his apartment building, she knew his eyes were on her. Was she a neighbor, or had she actually been in _his_ apartment? Not that Koneko had any desire to, but she hadn't thought of a way to get that close.

It was more like the girl had accepted something, let some facade melt away and just be herself.

Strange. Why would she want to be around that pervert anyway?

The conversations for the first portion of the date had been average, and hadn't changed much after the woods. It was the looks traded between them that changed. Seeing the pair kiss wasn't something that Koneko appreciated, a fan of PDA she is not.

Now that Rias had the information, her earlier pondering was all the more present.

'Why would Issei hide, outright deny, the fact that he had a date?'

Her curiosity only made Rias want to meet him more. The summoning flyer hadn't yet worked, so what would be the best way to go about it?

 **-LineBreak-**

"Okay, peanut butter, crunchy or creamy?"

Sitting on his couch, Issei was in a position he'd found himself in multiple times.

Just never with 'Yuuma'.

"Crunchy." He answered quickly, hands rubbing the small soft foot of the girl that looked ready to fall asleep.

"What?!" Her exclamation only had her raising her head, opening her eyes and propping her torso up via elbows planting into the cushion.

"Crunchy." He repeated, firm in his choice.

"How can you say that?" lowering herself down to her previous resting position, Yuuma brought both hands up above her head, hanging over the armrest of the couch.

"Creamy is obviously the better choice. Seriously, even just eating a spoonful of it is better." One hand rose, three fingers lightly touching her cheek.

"The taste, the smooth, slightly salted taste swirling on your tongue and sliding down your throat." Issei wasn't sure they were talking about peanut butter anymore, her fingers gliding ever so softly down to her neck, stopping at her chest as one eye peered over to him.

"It's so… _satisfying_ , feeling that as I lick the rest off my lips." Diving in to her act, Her tongue peeked out and swept over her lips.

For just a few seconds, Issei was unable to say, think, or do _anything_. He'd been unprepared for the innuendo and the follow through. Normally any sort of innuendo was immediately followed by a grin or laughter.

But she looked entirely genuine.

It made him wonder.

"Fucking teasing succubbus." Issei managed to grumble, getting the fallen to smirk when she felt something stirring beneath her calf resting on his lap.

For Raynare, this was strange. She was essentially doing nothing, just laying on a couch as her… boyfriend worked magic on her foot with fingers that seemed to know all the points of tension.

And yet she didn't feel like this was a waste of time, she wasn't bored or annoyed with the only other occupant in the room being a human.

Unfortunately, this contentment wouldn't last. She'd already informed Issei that she'd need to head out rather early. The reason hadn't been offered and he never asked, accepting her word at face value.

She had two theories about that. The first was that Issei was just trusting by nature. The other was that the devil chick had conditioned him not to ask too many questions. Which one was better had yet to be decided.

"Who said i'm teasing?" Sure, Raynare hadn't been with a guy that she'd actually felt the desire to suck him off, rather it was a measure of reciprocation. A quid pro quo kind of thing, but it wasn't like the act was something she found revolting. Just another thing that felt like it had to be the right guy to recieve a spontaneous blowjob from her.

She couldn't deny the little power trip it gave her though, something about knowing that every little thing she did was the sole reason for the things he'd feel. A purse of the lips, flick of the tongue, clench of her throat.

Some of the fallen women even went so far as to turn it into a near artform, but they were… more promiscuous than herself. She'd rather not say they were slutty, because with the missions they had sometimes you just had to find a way to turn a situation to your favor.

To her surprise, Issei moved the conversation along from the very obvious line she'd brought them towards.

"Are you an animal person Yuuma?"

'Should that bother me?' She might not be in her true form, though there wasn't a whole lot different besides height, but Raynare had figured that a guy like Issei would follow down the path of trying to get some action. Or rather, the baseline perception that people had of Issei.

'I shouldn't be surprised after how last night went.'

The two of them were getting closer slowly but surely, however, she didn't feel the need to divulge every thought the moment it popped into her head. They weren't _anywhere_ near that level. And besides, she was actually looking forward to where things might go between them.

"Not for the exotic kind, but dogs, cats, and that sort of thing." Raynare answered after a pause she hadn't been aware was building.

Her eyes hardened as she made an addition to that statement.

"If you tell me that you have a pet squid, spider, centipede or anything with more than four legs I am leaving and never setting foot in your home again."

Her boyfriend looked both shocked and amused at her answer.

"I was gonna say i'm more of a dog person myself than anything else, but _damn._ " He chuckled at the end. She couldn't help it, spiders and centipedes were probably a normal thing for people to dislike. Squids, or an octopus she supposed, had just been...defiled by a section of Japanese culture.

'ONE TIME! I let a target show me a video of his fetish _one fucking time_!' Needless to say her respect for the Japanese had gone down below what her threshold for humans was.

Actually, now that she was thinking about some of the weird fetish categories…

"And if you tell me that you have one of those full body animal suits where the mouth moves… I will slap you so hard you'll get testicular torsion." She was serious too.

When her head cleared enough for her to get out of the horrifying things she'd unknowingly agreed to watch, Raynare noticed that Issei was staring at her intently.

"You hate furries?" His gaze was sharp, unreadable, and Raynare couldn't help but feel just a little turned on that it was focused entirely on _her_.

Then his face shifted, expression easing into a relieved smile with a good measure of lust behind it.

"Thank all that is good in this world." She must have been giving him that kind of look that radiated the question 'Uh….. what?' because he elaborated.

"Furries are an abomination. Pure evil. Indecent. Unnatural. A plague that must be wiped off the earth."

'Well alright then.' She wasn't going to disagree, but Raynare was sure that there was a story behind his animosity. Still though, the tentacle stuff was higher on her list of 'disgusting things that humans are into' list.

 **-LineBreak-**

Under the cover of darkness, Issei walked through the woods bordering Kuoh. Yuuma hadn't stayed much longer before leaving, a few kisses shared before she headed to… wherever it was she needed to be.

As had happened a few times, Issei was thankful that she hadn't been there when his dispatch to take out a stray came through. A human wouldn't have been able to feel the magic affecting a specific shelf in his living room acting as a sort of transport tube for communications, but a fallen definitely would have.

Given that Rias was still without a full peerage, the higher ups would pause at offering her even a B rank stray, let alone an A rank or S rank. Sure, Sona could have helped, but the division of labor for the territory specifically made it the task for the Gremory heiress.

 **[Ahhhhhh, that was cathartic.]** Ddraig was more than pleased to see some combat, short lived as it had been. Issei had agreed to go a little overboard, only using the boosted gear on the _thing_ that had at least looked humanoid at some point in its life. Doing so granted Issei some measure of atonement for what Ddraig considered to be a capital crime, conversing with Aika.

"How was _that_ an 'A' ranked stray?" Issei asked his companion. The ranks ranged from D to SS, and since there were only a few listings to fit in, the ranges of power from those in any rank could vary greatly. Sirzechs for example, would be considered an SS rank because it was the highest tier, and the likes of Ruval phenex would share it because of his power being in the category of the lowest ultimate class devils.

D and C rank were generally considered among low class power tiers, B rank for middle class, and A rank for high class. The thing Issei fought hardly felt B rank.

 **[How long has it been since you've had a fight that required more than a single strike in your base form?]** Ddraig asked flatly.

Issei had to actually think for a few moments on that. Stray knight pieces were always a pain to deal with because he wasn't exactly the best at turning on a dime. He could… but in the heat of the moment it usually meant there was a short chase if he missed.

"A few months." He shrugged.

 **[Try over a year.]** Ddraig corrected **[The only reason the manticore lasted as long as it did was because you didn't lead your shots.]**

Ugh. That one sucked. Whoever thought it was a good idea to give that beast crystal meth deserved every right step to be on a lego and every left step to stub his pinky toe.

"Point taken, it's been a little bit for any kind of challenge."

 **[That wasn't my point, Partner. My point was that you're still growing, your body still developing and adapting to its power. The hardest of your training was done either before puberty or during its beginning stages.]**

Not even Issei was dumb enough to not get where Ddraig was going with that. The training had pretty much come to a halt after he defeated Grayfia, and anything beyond that day had been of his own accord.

"How much stronger do you think I am?" He asked with the barest sense of unease.

Him being Sera's queen was already going to be a source of heated debate between the pillars. The other queens were all pure-blooded, notable persons. He on the other hand was just some kid that happened to have a god given tool of mass destruction.

If he had crossed the last threshold in terms of a devil's power… debate would be the least of his worries. How many assassins had been sent after Tannin when he was reincarnated and almost immediately given an ultimate class promotion?

Some of the pillar members were extremely petty, paranoid, and prehistoric in what they thought was the best course of action for devil society.

 **[It's hard to say, but I doubt it's enough for you to decisively defeat your king in Balance Breaker.]**

"Fuck." Issei caught that last hint as well. He and Ddraig had agreed that they should compare his strength to others with either his base form or Balance Breaker and not… the other thing.

It was too unstable still, the secrecy he had to abide by meant that he couldn't train it. The power drain wasn't something he was too concerned about anymore, just that it felt so completely different and he lost control of it too often.

Before long, Issei was approaching his building and walking inside. Keys entered locks, doors were opened, stairs were climbed. Finally, Issei was back home. He wasn't a fan of stray hunts, it made the fault in the peerage system all too apparent to him, and even more so was the way that the higher ups handled it.

After that thing with the SS stray Kuro-

"What the…"

Issei clearly recalled leaving on the lamp by the door and the hallway light between the living room and bedroom. What he walked into was a dark expanse, his vision as a devil being the only reason he could see anything at all. Even then, his vision was tinted in a slight red hue as the magic transmitted the sights to his brain.

There was also the slow, rhythmic beat of some unnameable song playing through the stereo below his TV, and the scent in the air…

A smile spread across his lips, remembering a scene so much like this one.

"Sera-" His body rocked before catching his balance as a rocket of flesh and hair attached itself to his side.

"I've missed you." A breathy whisper washed over his right ear, a soft cheek pressed into his neck.

Pressing a hand over the ones wrapped around to his chest, Issei felt both elated and nervous. He couldn't put off the conversation any longer.

"I missed you too." But he could delay it in order to calm himself.

"There's something I need to tell you." There were multiple things actually, but one had priority over the others.

"Me too. But first…" There was a rasp in her voice as she let one hand slip down-

"Take me to bed." -And it slipped right into his boxers to grab hold of what was obviously her goal at the moment.

His desire to please her, to love her, overruled the rational thought that his interaction with a fallen was the most important thing at the moment.

"As my king commands."

 **END!**

 **FURRIES ARE EEEEVVVVVIIILLLL!**

 **Maybe lemon next chapter, not sure.**

 **Rias stuff, Ray stuff, Sera stuff too.**


End file.
